tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88943333291643424602017-09-04T15:09:15.463-07:00Peruvian PatoExperiencing Peru as a
Peace Corps VolunteerChristopher Hueynoreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-55640490264526385032012-06-25T17:29:00.001-07:002012-06-29T08:29:32.420-07:00Saying Goodbye Is Never EasyA lot has happened over the last few weeks, making my "last post" actually my second or third-to-last post. &nbsp;There have been strikes, road blocks, medical exams in lima, a youth camp for boys, going away parties with friends, and last ditch efforts to make some kind of positive impact on my adopted community. &nbsp;But a recent tragic event made it evident to me that I would like to write at least one more post about the people who have made my two years in Peru the best they could be: my host family.<br /><br />Ever since my first day here my host family, and extended relatives, have made me feel not only welcome but have done their best to make me feel like a part of their lives. &nbsp;Through their efforts I have had the opportunity to really integrate, never being made to feel as merely a renter or an outsider, but more as a distant cousin visiting for the first time. &nbsp;During my two years here I have had the great honor of being involved in family birthdays, church events, holidays and even drama. &nbsp;Unfortunately, today I can count my integration complete on a much more somber note as I share in my family's grief at the loss of my host uncle, Willy Castro, who died in a boat accident on a river in Jaen on Saturday.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NUH-ONgwJbA/T-j8mJbBtZI/AAAAAAAAAdg/ttg0rlxQFcU/s1600/P1010222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NUH-ONgwJbA/T-j8mJbBtZI/AAAAAAAAAdg/ttg0rlxQFcU/s320/P1010222.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />Willy was a dear friend to me these two years and not only the first that not only welcomed me with open arms but the first to become an active and helpful advisor during my first confusing and scary months in site. &nbsp;My first impression of "Tito" (as the family refers to him) was that he was almost too friendly. &nbsp;Within a week of meeting him, he would find me in the streets and give me big hugs, laughing and telling me how wonderful it was for me to be there. &nbsp;He wasted no time in sharing his favorite hobby with me: birdwatching. &nbsp;Initially I would avoid Willy in the street for fear of losing an hour of my time to his long-winded and excited stories of his most recent excursion. &nbsp;He would have me sit down next to him and show me each and every one of hundreds of photos of birds... often the same bird - looking&nbsp;to me we raised eyebrows after each to see how much I approved of his birdwatching prowess.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zOboQK3WcTY/T-j_my16NwI/AAAAAAAAAd0/ruOmvLN83yE/s1600/P1020738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zOboQK3WcTY/T-j_my16NwI/AAAAAAAAAd0/ruOmvLN83yE/s320/P1020738.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AOt29tnq-9c/T-j78gN6ulI/AAAAAAAAAdY/bhRmj4Ukhjg/s1600/P1010186.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AOt29tnq-9c/T-j78gN6ulI/AAAAAAAAAdY/bhRmj4Ukhjg/s320/P1010186.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />Tito was the kind of guy who either grew on you fast or became "that guy" you would always try and avoid. &nbsp;Fortunately for me, he quickly became the former and was inviting me on nature hikes, to see his family on the outskirts of town, and giving me my only real glimpses of life in the poorest parts of Peru. &nbsp;Willy was an amazingly dynamic person who was/is adored throughout the region as a great man in every community he touched, be they rich or poor. &nbsp;He was a professor, a writer, a cook, &nbsp;a comedian, a friend, and a loving husband and father of three daughters. &nbsp;He truly was one of those rare and exceptional human beings that you can meet once but remember forever - and I will.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_I_17qrQlUk/T-j9la2HNBI/AAAAAAAAAdo/4Bn7L0xf9nM/s1600/P1020108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I_U7NWHWnDg/T-j7bf1njxI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/onjleIxqLRA/s1600/P1010158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I_U7NWHWnDg/T-j7bf1njxI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/onjleIxqLRA/s320/P1010158.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />It is often the case that we get so wrapped up in our daily routines that we forget the people around us who make our lives worth living. &nbsp;I have had my fair share of frustrations and pessimistic fits during my two years here but I would do it all over again if given the chance because the people I know today (volunteers, host family, friends, counterparts) have enriched my own existence in so many wonderful ways. &nbsp;It is my hope that I can keep contact with as many of them as possible after I go home. &nbsp;It is, however, much to my detriment that Willy cannot be among them.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_I_17qrQlUk/T-j9la2HNBI/AAAAAAAAAdo/4Bn7L0xf9nM/s1600/P1020108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_I_17qrQlUk/T-j9la2HNBI/AAAAAAAAAdo/4Bn7L0xf9nM/s320/P1020108.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s8l7MknPbuw/T-kBshIyVsI/AAAAAAAAAd8/6q0d3ql5eus/s1600/P1020303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s8l7MknPbuw/T-kBshIyVsI/AAAAAAAAAd8/6q0d3ql5eus/s400/P1020303.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Edit: The wake was only one night as upposed to the traditional three because of the length of time it took to bring the body to Cutervo. &nbsp;However, there were over 1,000 people waiting for Willy at the entrance of the city and over 2,000 came to grieve as his casket was escorted by police through the streets to his home. &nbsp;The next day an equally impressive number of Cutervinos gathered for a huge mass and parade to see Willy off to his final resting place in the new cemetery on the hill overlooking the city and hills he fought so hard to protect from environmental destruction. &nbsp;Appropriately, the skies opened up and rained heavily the second the priest said the last words and his casket was slid into the crypt. &nbsp;It was a very touching time for the whole city... something I have never seen happen here in Cutervo - proving how amazing of a person Willy Castro was.Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-6336074553891441582012-06-11T11:12:00.003-07:002012-06-11T11:12:26.463-07:00Conga No Va<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp4cilv58pY/T9Y0Xm8fttI/AAAAAAAAAdE/i-ErrrDttI0/s1600/conga+no+va.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp4cilv58pY/T9Y0Xm8fttI/AAAAAAAAAdE/i-ErrrDttI0/s320/conga+no+va.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="p1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="p1"><span style="font-size: large;">Here is a blog written by one of my friends who lives near me. &nbsp;I decided to repost it so that you all might understand the serious situation occurring here. &nbsp;For those of you who are unaware, there have been strikes taking place all over the department of Cajamarca over the mining operations here. &nbsp;Here is Kelsey's post:</span></div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p3"><i>In November of 2011, we blogged about the intense striking that was happening in our area.&nbsp; To give a quick recap, people were protesting the creation of a new mine in our department, the Conga Project.&nbsp; We currently have the second largest gold mine in the world, Yanachocha, just south of where we live.&nbsp; Like the Conga Project, Yanachocha is owned by an American mining company called Newmont.&nbsp; Over the past couple decades, there have been issues of water contamination by Yanachocha, including a major mercury spill.&nbsp; The people claim more contamination, but it is difficult to know what to believe, because so many things are being said without much scientific basis.&nbsp; What we do know is that Peru’s standards for environmental protection from mines are much lower than that of the U.S., so U.S. companies that would never be allowed to use such unsafe practices in our own country are able to do so here.&nbsp;</i></div><div class="p4"><i><br /></i></div><div class="p3"><i>When the Conga Project was still in its initial construction stages, our entire department went on strike for 15 days in November.&nbsp; All roads were shut down, so you couldn’t leave your town and no supplies could come in.&nbsp; We were short on all fresh food, and only rice was left to buy in our town.&nbsp; No schools, government offices, stores, health centers, or hospitals were open.&nbsp; Anyone employed by the government (teachers, nurses, etc.) were paid for the day’s work if they went to the strike.&nbsp; If they went to their post to teach or give medical services, they were not paid.&nbsp; Electricity was shut off for a couple days, as were the cell phone towers.&nbsp; Internet service was shut off for the duration of the strike.&nbsp; At the “Lagoons (the natural source of many rivers in our area),” where the Conga Project is set to be built, there was some violence, which ended in tear gas, rubber bullets, and one person shot in the leg.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</i></div><div class="p4"><i><br /></i></div><div class="p3"><i>The strike finally ended, because the national government called a state of emergency in the department.&nbsp; The national police and military were sent in and no one was allowed to meet in groups of more than three people.&nbsp; Sounds like Hogwarts under the supervision of Umbridge, right?&nbsp; Since then, we’ve had a military occupation in Cajamarca city and Bambamarca.&nbsp;</i></div><div class="p4"><i><br /></i></div><div class="p3"><i>Now let’s get to the present.&nbsp; The national government hired third-party researches to redo the Conga Project’s environmental impact study, and last month, the results came out.&nbsp; The national government determined the project environmentally safe, but they required that the company agree to some additional safety measures.&nbsp;</i></div><div class="p4"><i><br /></i></div><div class="p3"><i>Since that announcement, the departmental government has threatened another strike, unless the national government changes their stance.&nbsp; The department is not willing to negotiate, and will only be satisfied if the project is canceled.&nbsp; Their slogan is “Conga No Va (Conga will not go).”&nbsp;</i></div><div class="p4"><i><br /></i></div><div class="p3"><i>The weeks have passed, and the national government still has not changed their decision, as the deadline set by the department gets closer.&nbsp; If nothing changes, the department will strike again on May 31.&nbsp; This strike is set for an indefinite amount of time, and schools and health services will be closed down again.&nbsp; Most people expect it will last longer than the last one, but I hope not.&nbsp;</i></div><div class="p4"><br /></div><div class="p3"><span style="font-size: large;">Kelsey blogged this post on May 28th and the situation has gotten a bit worse as roads all over the department are blockaded and some of my friends have been stuck in their sites, unable to work because locals are denouncing them as spies for the mines. &nbsp;I am currently safe and on my way to Lima for medical exams but I hear that our road home will be blocked and I might end up stuck outside of my site for a good chunk of my last few weeks in Peru. &nbsp;All I can hope is that I can get in and out safely one last time in order to say goodbye to my friends and host family.</span></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-50016550651556265992012-05-14T13:06:00.003-07:002012-05-14T13:06:50.046-07:00¡That's All Folks!<br /><div class="p1">"That's a wrap folks..." I say to myself in an increasingly empty room. &nbsp;I say increasingly because I am packing up my stuff. &nbsp;I have three piles: to take home, to give to volunteers, and to leave here in Cutervo. &nbsp;They aren't labeled, of course. &nbsp;You can tell pretty easily which is which by the contents (valuables, clothes, books). &nbsp;My walls are covered in the little round stains left behind by the sticky tack balls that help up my posters, cards, and letter from home. &nbsp;There are a lot of spots where the paint was ripped off by two years of tape bonding itself to the walls... I might have to give my host family a bit of extra money to repaint. &nbsp;That is, if they ever come back here at all... they are selling the house and I haven't seen them for over 6 months. &nbsp;I am not even sure I will get a proper despedida (goodbye).</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">I recently got home from my COS (Close of Service) conference in Lima where I saw my entire training group from two years ago in the same place for the last time. &nbsp;While it was an odd feeling to know that I will probably not see many of them again, I know I will stay in contact with the ones I know best... or at the very least we will reconnect in the future in a way only good friends who have been through a lot together can. &nbsp;At least we had a blast for our last night together. &nbsp;We even went to the nicest restaurant in Perú - Astrid y Gaston. &nbsp;It was epically good and twice as expensive but well worth the memory of a table full of dirty, ill-mannered, american volunteers taking over the 35th finest restaurant in the world... hehe, yeah we might not be allowed back but the food was excellent.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">On the other hand, I am pretty excited to finish up my degree and start my career. &nbsp;I miss my friends, family, good food, technology... INTERNET! &nbsp;I feel conflicted about leaving because I know I could actually make a larger difference if I stayed another year. &nbsp;I could ensure the youth center attains sustainability and that there are locals trained and active in maintaining it. &nbsp;But the decision is made... I have been accruing interest on my school loans over the last two years and I fear another year would be a bad idea. &nbsp;Also, I miss Katie. &nbsp;I can't do another year without her or I would be absolutely miserable if I stayed without her. &nbsp;I made it through these two years only because she came to me, sacrificing a lot to make our relationship to work.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">So here I write my last Peru blog post trying to decide if I fight the nagging feeling that I am leaving behind something important - because, to be honest, I am. &nbsp;I have spent two whole years of my life here in Cutervo. &nbsp;That may not seem like a lot on paper (my thoughts when applying) but I have had some amazing, life-changing, experiences here. &nbsp;I have made what I expect to be some of my best memories while here. &nbsp;So, in traditional Peace Corps Volunteer fashion, I am going to list the pros and cons, the things i will and wont miss, of Cutervo, Cajamarca, Perú.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1"><b>Cons (ie: things I will NOT miss)</b></div><div class="p1">1) Puncuality (lack thereof) - If you plan a meeting you MUST plan it for at least an hour before you plan to begin.</div><div class="p1">2) Lying - Don't misunderstand me, everyone lies but here it is considered more rude to decline attendance than to say you will probably be there. &nbsp;Also, there is a nasty habit of not wanting to be caught not knowing something, so if you ask 4 people on the street how to get somewhere you will get four different definitive answers on where it is.</div><div class="p1">3) Transportation - I have been close to death... many times.</div><div class="p1">4) Vomiting - Because the roads are so bad and because peruvians like to eat large meals before traveling, I have had to deal with vomit quite often (twice on me).</div><div class="p1">5) Rice or plain boiled potatoes</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1"><b>Pros (ie: things I WILL miss)</b></div><div class="p1">1) The Andes Mountains - Some of the most beautiful places I have been in my life are here in Perú.</div><div class="p1">2) Gracious Hospitality - Even when I am in the middle of the poorest areas of Peru I am always invited to the table to eat a meal. &nbsp;People go out of their way to make sure a guest is comfortable and welcome.</div><div class="p1">3) Late nights playing board games and having conversations with my host family.</div><div class="p1">4) Being introduced as someone I am not - I have been introduced as everything from a Spanish doctor to a representative from the US Embassy of Peace.</div><div class="p1">5) Being recognized and warmly greeted wherever I go in town. &nbsp;This can also be a con when I need to get somewhere fast and I have to talk to 20 people along the way.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1"><b>Things that went from Cons to Pros over the two years</b></div><div class="p1">1) Music - Huayno, while still not my favorite music in the world, no longer makes me cringe when I hear it.</div><div class="p1">2) Food - When I had my first plate of rice, potatoes, and meat... I was pretty worried about the effect the next two years would have on my sanity (and waistline). &nbsp;Luckily I grew accustomed to the food here, stopped having bowel issues, and even crave a good chicharron con arroz sometimes.</div><div class="p1">3) Beer - I hate the beer when I first arrived here. &nbsp;Now I can't remember what I didn't like about it.</div><div class="p1">4) Patience - If there is one thing that Peace Corps will either complete build or destroy for a volunteer, it is your patience.</div><div class="p1">5) Communication - I have improved the way I communicate, not only in Spanish but in how I express my ideas to others</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">As for Kutiri, I have done everything I can to create a successful and sustainable youth center. &nbsp;I have, with your help, given them start up materials they need (printer, projector, school supplies, books, laptops, etc..). &nbsp;I have worked with local organizations to get a contract signed promising they continue to support and manage the project. &nbsp;I have even secured the arrival of a new volunteer to come to Cutervo for the next two years. &nbsp;Now, while I focus on training local volunteers and staff to continue on, I feel as if I can go home with a clear conscience - I did what I can. &nbsp;If I find that the center is still running after a year I think I might coordinate with the new director to do a fund-raiser to help expand the library or build a proper computer center.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Finally, I want to thank all of you for supporting me while I was abroad. &nbsp;Not only did you help me get the youth center up and running but you forgave me when I may have gone off the radar for a while (months even). &nbsp;I couldn't have been as successful or well-adjusted as I have been without you. &nbsp;You can be sure I will have a &nbsp;brief (I promise) iMovie for you showing the highlights of my two years here. &nbsp;I figure this will save me the time repeating stories while still giving people the answer to that oh-so-inevitable question: "so? what was two years in Perú like?!"</div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cmZmIyVw9cs/T7FlhV9iERI/AAAAAAAAAcU/5GUPmiyUxpA/s1600/P1020281.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cmZmIyVw9cs/T7FlhV9iERI/AAAAAAAAAcU/5GUPmiyUxpA/s320/P1020281.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p2"><br /></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-35049761260174781152012-03-24T13:08:00.001-07:002012-03-24T13:08:16.537-07:00Everything is Gonna Be Alright<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qhm25n3QDYQ/T24owW4yTOI/AAAAAAAAAaA/aW0YBbW5mmM/s1600/tumblr_ljvo3mUBOy1qbh5c9o1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qhm25n3QDYQ/T24owW4yTOI/AAAAAAAAAaA/aW0YBbW5mmM/s320/tumblr_ljvo3mUBOy1qbh5c9o1_500.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1">Yesterday I had one of the most personally important meetings of my life. &nbsp;The directors, leading teachers, and student leaders of every school in Cutervo (of which there are 8) came to hear what the Kutiri youth center had to offer them and how they could help make this free community service something to be envied by all of Cutervo's neighbors. &nbsp;So many people showed up that we had to find more seats. &nbsp;My socios gave presentations about the recently signed contract and the risks to youth in the community and the need for the center. &nbsp;I gave a&nbsp;presentation&nbsp;about the center itself, our past success, and the basic services to be provided.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and, honestly, surprised me. &nbsp;Kids and teachers were asking questions, saying what an amazing idea all this was; one girl even challenged the representative from the municipality by asking why they hadn't signed the contract before now. &nbsp;My heart soared as the kids crowded me at the end to ask if they could be youth leaders and what they could do for the next meeting. &nbsp;The teachers literally lined up to shake my hand and offer their support. &nbsp;One lady told me she would like to organize a parenting class for the rural farmers outside of the city proper. &nbsp;At the end everyone signed a sheet promising what support they would bring and what the next steps would be. &nbsp;Wow...</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">So it is with a great deal of anxiety that I leave on monday for my Masters Research Project for the University of Denver. &nbsp;I hate leaving just as everyone gets this burst of shared vision and motivation but I have to fit the trip in before April 20th because volunteers are not allowed to leave their sites for the last three months of service. &nbsp;Luckily my local counterparts are going to hold down the fort while I am gone, which is a great opportunity for them to take the reins. &nbsp;They have promised to do at least one charla and activity a week while I am gone. &nbsp;When I get back, we will form youth groups, train teachers, and create a strong 6 month work plan. &nbsp;My awesome colleague living an hour away has also promised to help the new volunteer get on his/her feet.</div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1">I think everything is gonna be alright.</div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*Feature photo borrowed from&nbsp;http://fuckyeahyellowcard.tumblr.com/</span></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-382784635017620892012-03-24T13:00:00.004-07:002012-03-24T13:00:57.988-07:00I'm going on a trip!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bMghKTijc8U/T24mqtPLC5I/AAAAAAAAAZw/7kS-rlmeG9k/s1600/newlogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bMghKTijc8U/T24mqtPLC5I/AAAAAAAAAZw/7kS-rlmeG9k/s320/newlogo.png" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="p1"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u05-Knlamfs/T24msYwdexI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/hoKVIoaG7kE/s1600/peru_outline_bw_map.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u05-Knlamfs/T24msYwdexI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/hoKVIoaG7kE/s200/peru_outline_bw_map.gif" width="148" /></a></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div><div class="p1"><br /></div>So what is this research trip all about? Being a masters<br /> <div class="p1">international student means that I only get me masters degree when I</div><div class="p1">have finished me service with Peace Corps and written a significant</div><div class="p1">research paper tying my degree with my experience here in Peru. As</div><div class="p1">many of you know, I have always been a staunch defender of human</div><div class="p1">rights. In fact, my international development degree has an emphasis</div><div class="p1">on them. My passion for several years has been combating</div><div class="p1">exploitation and human trafficking. As a senior associate of the</div><div class="p1">Human Trafficking Clinic I wanted to focus on that for my paper -</div><div class="p1">maybe even bring some new insight the situation in Peru if I am lucky.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">I have been very fortunate to have made contact with some of the best</div><div class="p1">and brightest experts fighting trafficking here in Peru. With my&nbsp;friends from the IOM, USAID, US Department of State, US Department of&nbsp;Homeland Security, and several amazing local organizations, I have&nbsp;planed a research gathering trip that will cover the entire country&nbsp;over the course of three weeks.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">I hope to specifically focus on the trafficking of minors from the&nbsp;jungles to the coast. Also, I hear a lot of stories about young girls&nbsp;in prostitution camps where there are heavy mining operations and</div><div class="p1">would like to investigate further. Don't worry though - I will be&nbsp;extra careful and not be going to areas considered to be dangerous.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">If any of this interests you, I will blog about my experience at&nbsp;<span class="s1"><a href="http://thewordyabolitionist.wordpress.com/">thewordyabolitionist.wordpress.com</a></span><span class="s2"> throughout the trip.</span></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-58624621376179278892012-03-24T12:30:00.001-07:002012-03-24T12:30:58.691-07:00My Salvation: the legally binding contractSo here I am, less than four months from being home, and finally my work is taking off in more positive ways than I could imagine. &nbsp;On the one hand, this means I have finally met some of my potential here in Cutervo and I can go home feeling like I actually made some meaningful change that will positively impact hundreds of people. &nbsp;However, on the other hand, I can't help but think what I could do with a third or even fourth year here now that I have finally overcome so many of the initial barriers (cultural, linguistic, trust, etc...). &nbsp;I have very mixed feelings about leaving. &nbsp;Fortunately, the choice is already made for me because I have school debts to pay. &nbsp;I will be ending my service with the Peace Corps on the 20th of July and heading home shortly thereafter.<br /><br />If you would have asked me a month ago how things were going I would have stuck you as possibly the most cynical and pessimistic person you know. &nbsp;All of my projects had been put on hold, none of my local counterparts were answering calls or showing up to meetings, the Kutiri youth center had been closed for over 3 months and no one was keeping up with their promises. &nbsp;I was frustrated and angry and I had all but given up entirely on Kutiri. &nbsp;Then march hit and school started up again. &nbsp;I got one call... then two, then four. &nbsp;Within the first week of March my faith had been restored and my counterparts and I were working harder than ever. &nbsp;Apparently I had just not realized it is customary to just not do any serious work during school vacations.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7F0fNwqLIgw/T24gFZHtpjI/AAAAAAAAAZo/2-D0NvCjRw8/s1600/P1030538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7F0fNwqLIgw/T24gFZHtpjI/AAAAAAAAAZo/2-D0NvCjRw8/s320/P1030538.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />What you see here is a bonafide contract from Cutervo, Cajamarca, Perú. &nbsp;These five flimsy pages represent the culmination of my two years of work here. &nbsp;This document officially establishes the Kutiri Youth Development Center as a locally run and supported government agency. &nbsp;To ensure that the program has its best shot at sustainability the operational and provisional requirements are split up between the local Municipality (the mayor's office), the Ministry of Health (DISA), the Ministry of Education (UGEL), and whatever Peace Corps Volunteer is in Cutervo at the time (I have secured at least one more to come after me). &nbsp;The contract also specifies that the community must establish a permanent space for the youth center within the next four years. &nbsp;It took a tremendous amount of work and patience to get all the different actors to the table and agree to these terms but there it is. &nbsp;And now that we have local funding we have been flying through meetings with school directors, kids, local professionals, and politicians to get the center to self-sustainability before I leave.<br /><br />Yep. Things have certainly picked up! After I get back from my&nbsp;research trip I not only have the youth center to focus on but I am&nbsp;helping plan a regional youth camp in the south of Cajamarca (<a href="https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&amp;projdesc=527-087">click&nbsp;here</a> to learn more and donate). I also have a close of service&nbsp;conference in Lima and a separate trip back for medical exams. All&nbsp;this within four months!<br /> <br /><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">I will have to write separate posts on both my research trip and the upcoming&nbsp;youth camp.</div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-87558334182376427602012-01-01T11:38:00.001-08:002012-01-30T15:33:38.335-08:00My Grand Vacation!If there is one thing that really helps the Peace Corps stand out from other volunteer opportunities it is the length of time that one serves for.&nbsp; Two years didn't seem like much to me in the beginning (I mean, I was in grad school for that long and it flew by so fast!) but it became quickly apparent that the passing of time would not be the same as back home.<br /><br />In Perú, as a volunteer, time is a strange amorphous goo that is difficult to get a hold of.&nbsp; On the one hand, you feel like two years will never pass.&nbsp; I can't believe how long it feels like I have been telling people I have only 8 more months left in my service!&nbsp; As soon as you count it, it stands still (like one of those weeping angels on Dr. Who).&nbsp; And much like the weeping angels, when you ignore it, it sneaks up on you in the blink of an eye.&nbsp; I feel like I go through days like a fat kid going through a bag of those reeses that everyone sends me.&nbsp; It is astonishing how fast Mondays seem to come and go.&nbsp; So, really, it is baffling to most volunteers how the short term can speed past in a blur of huayno, socio-dramas, and cheap beer, while the long term moves slower than a peruvian promise.<br /><br />However, one of the perks to being in a country for two years - besides learning how to kill and butcher a guinea pig - is that you get the opportunity to really experience its many different facets of cultural and social identity.&nbsp; Or, in other words, you get to travel and see stuff!<br /><br />Your average Peace Corps volunteer receives two days of vacation every month, which really isn't a lot if you consider we work 7 days a week.&nbsp; So if said volunteer is following the rules, they get 48 days during their two years to check out what their host country has to offer.&nbsp; So with Katie in tow, I recently took a huge chunk of my vacation days to go see mine for the holidays.<br /><br />So, without further babbling from me, I present to you my photos... 'cus that is why you all come here anyway o_o <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KoORM0ZQYRM/TwC_PJzJCHI/AAAAAAAAAUI/2c_jtrhgT6Y/s1600/P1030071.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KoORM0ZQYRM/TwC_PJzJCHI/AAAAAAAAAUI/2c_jtrhgT6Y/s320/P1030071.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Baños del Inca - Cajamarca City)<br />These are the restored thermal baths once used by Inca Emperors.&nbsp; This site is coincidentally quite close to the spot where Emperor Altahualpa was captured by Pizarro.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-42WIs-mbIu0/TwC_RI0itaI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/De0LY6eJb_E/s1600/P1030198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-42WIs-mbIu0/TwC_RI0itaI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/De0LY6eJb_E/s320/P1030198.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We picked up Katie's friend, Bethany, in Lima and headed to Cusco.&nbsp; Here you can see a cute critter observing the local wildlife... and there is a lama there too.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SvJ2D9G1H94/TwC_UCbFRRI/AAAAAAAAAUY/tKGKeIm32pI/s1600/P1030201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SvJ2D9G1H94/TwC_UCbFRRI/AAAAAAAAAUY/tKGKeIm32pI/s320/P1030201.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The streets of Cusco are really quite rustic and make for great self-tours.&nbsp; Just watch out when they get wet - those cobblestones are slippery!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dZVQbUaVtrE/TwDAEnOC0vI/AAAAAAAAAUg/3tP73lS0d1I/s1600/P1030222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dZVQbUaVtrE/TwDAEnOC0vI/AAAAAAAAAUg/3tP73lS0d1I/s320/P1030222.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And then the three adventurers set out on the Inca Trail to find the mystical site of Machu Picchu.&nbsp; They knew the trek would be rife with dangers and hardships...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AWEtvDiSVlg/TwDBHaK7KxI/AAAAAAAAAUo/CoDlcNBBGSU/s1600/P1030234.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AWEtvDiSVlg/TwDBHaK7KxI/AAAAAAAAAUo/CoDlcNBBGSU/s320/P1030234.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... but they had their trusty guide, horse handler, and personal chef there to help them make it to the end.&nbsp; It also helped that they brought tents, mattresses, sub-zero sleeping bags, a complete kitchen, tent-dining room, and portable toilet tent carried by no less than 2 mules and a horse.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zOhnsNynV8g/TwDCcH18uBI/AAAAAAAAAUw/HEjfP-8Iodk/s1600/P1030236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zOhnsNynV8g/TwDCcH18uBI/AAAAAAAAAUw/HEjfP-8Iodk/s320/P1030236.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Really stunning trail.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y9CthOlVA0Y/TwDDufi4lMI/AAAAAAAAAU4/NlIR_ZVRxyU/s1600/P1030237.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y9CthOlVA0Y/TwDDufi4lMI/AAAAAAAAAU4/NlIR_ZVRxyU/s320/P1030237.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oooo...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l4G6heyGEeY/TwDEhGwpZXI/AAAAAAAAAVA/veYgj1f0I4I/s1600/P1030241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l4G6heyGEeY/TwDEhGwpZXI/AAAAAAAAAVA/veYgj1f0I4I/s320/P1030241.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ahhhh...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-spGGLzyoRHY/TwDFnBjloII/AAAAAAAAAVI/3lJ_y0uYRWQ/s1600/P1030243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-spGGLzyoRHY/TwDFnBjloII/AAAAAAAAAVI/3lJ_y0uYRWQ/s320/P1030243.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oooo again! (This is how most of the trek went)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-reTJNDri8dk/TwDG1hewjnI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/hgEgiZQmPm8/s1600/P1030315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-reTJNDri8dk/TwDG1hewjnI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/hgEgiZQmPm8/s320/P1030315.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was a site overlooking the actual ruins of Machu Picchu.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oTGiDqXy4QM/TwDH-ral67I/AAAAAAAAAVY/s9UqFj9xdEg/s1600/P1030321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oTGiDqXy4QM/TwDH-ral67I/AAAAAAAAAVY/s9UqFj9xdEg/s320/P1030321.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And after we got to the top...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UqVuEeP0T78/TwDIwT70rTI/AAAAAAAAAVg/rrJkop5BKrw/s1600/P1030334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UqVuEeP0T78/TwDIwT70rTI/AAAAAAAAAVg/rrJkop5BKrw/s320/P1030334.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... we were rewarded with a rare clear view of Machu Picchu from above.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YEWvjR0UhAI/TwDJwaHS9-I/AAAAAAAAAVo/-s25npQlN3g/s1600/P1030381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YEWvjR0UhAI/TwDJwaHS9-I/AAAAAAAAAVo/-s25npQlN3g/s320/P1030381.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here are some photos of Machu Picchu proper.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rtn8NxpVoxg/TwDK6WHh5GI/AAAAAAAAAVw/MhoZiQgJ5H8/s1600/P1030389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rtn8NxpVoxg/TwDK6WHh5GI/AAAAAAAAAVw/MhoZiQgJ5H8/s320/P1030389.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j0uujKj0YVw/TwDLlpgPWvI/AAAAAAAAAV4/CIi-G_bsAfE/s1600/P1030436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j0uujKj0YVw/TwDLlpgPWvI/AAAAAAAAAV4/CIi-G_bsAfE/s320/P1030436.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As we left Machu Picchu, we were afforded this view of the snow capped Andes mountains from the train.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uNtZQMKwujM/TwDMgT4--MI/AAAAAAAAAWA/jr_ugMQ48qA/s1600/P1030473.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uNtZQMKwujM/TwDMgT4--MI/AAAAAAAAAWA/jr_ugMQ48qA/s320/P1030473.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our next stop was Huaraz!&nbsp; Ancash is by far my favorite department of Perú and I think you can probably figure out why.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IyuGtBz604I/TwDNe_B78hI/AAAAAAAAAWI/vbyb19aU8mk/s1600/P1030475.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IyuGtBz604I/TwDNe_B78hI/AAAAAAAAAWI/vbyb19aU8mk/s320/P1030475.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the Yanganuco lake snuggled up right next to the tallest mountain in Perú, Huascaran.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YVR7ApZxtkY/TwDOgYGQ7uI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/jR2TUQ7t-_c/s1600/P1030477.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YVR7ApZxtkY/TwDOgYGQ7uI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/jR2TUQ7t-_c/s320/P1030477.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The photos can't do this place justice.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LvT-60qhVuI/TwDPvluuw0I/AAAAAAAAAWY/XiaJNjwn2ik/s1600/P1030492.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LvT-60qhVuI/TwDPvluuw0I/AAAAAAAAAWY/XiaJNjwn2ik/s320/P1030492.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Get a load of that water?&nbsp; The weather was quite warm given the fact that we were at such a high altitude during the rainy season.&nbsp; Katie rightly observed that if we had not known otherwise we would have thought we were in the Bahamas with these trees and that crystal clear lake.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GYyekXxBiRM/TwDQyvtSYlI/AAAAAAAAAWg/fabGjN6ryzs/s1600/P1030504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GYyekXxBiRM/TwDQyvtSYlI/AAAAAAAAAWg/fabGjN6ryzs/s320/P1030504.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That is Huascaran, I think.</td></tr></tbody></table>As you can see, it was an exciting and leisurely trip.&nbsp; I got to see the majority of the stuff I wanted to see before leaving the country and now I can head home saying I have been to Machu Picchu.&nbsp; And now that Christmas vacation is over I realize that I have just 6 "short" months to finish up my work with the youth center.<br /><br />If all goes well, the next blog you read will be asking you all for a small (or large) donation to provide the center with a computer lab! Ha!<br /><br /><br /><span id="goog_203963403"></span><span id="goog_203963404"></span>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-80868483924509577402011-11-02T14:23:00.000-07:002012-01-01T09:47:18.365-08:00&nbsp;Kutiri Kutiri Kutiri... that seems to be the word that I live and breath right now.&nbsp; And for good reason; Katie, Katherine, and I have started a youth center named Kutiri here in Cutervo Peru.&nbsp; We have been putting in 7-12 hour work days (depending on the day) and can proudly say we have a regular group of 70+ kids showing up on a daily basis to participate in games, movie nights, parties, breakfasts, and workshops of varying themes.<br /><br />Here is the result of our hard work!<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BJcUmyFJbWk/TwBxrcjuM1I/AAAAAAAAATA/O9iyE8uDLVo/s1600/P1030092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BJcUmyFJbWk/TwBxrcjuM1I/AAAAAAAAATA/O9iyE8uDLVo/s320/P1030092.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I7h5IL0Q8kI/TwBynW2xRSI/AAAAAAAAATI/mLq_rDXNmXQ/s1600/P1030094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I7h5IL0Q8kI/TwBynW2xRSI/AAAAAAAAATI/mLq_rDXNmXQ/s320/P1030094.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8iqfzER4gqg/TwB0PQLRqHI/AAAAAAAAATQ/_4mB5wvscEM/s1600/P1030114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8iqfzER4gqg/TwB0PQLRqHI/AAAAAAAAATQ/_4mB5wvscEM/s320/P1030114.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qteQV-Qba6k/TwB1wqMaU_I/AAAAAAAAATY/-TO8UwGhxq8/s1600/P1030136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qteQV-Qba6k/TwB1wqMaU_I/AAAAAAAAATY/-TO8UwGhxq8/s320/P1030136.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ba6706vR0Wg/TwB3UUfqHNI/AAAAAAAAATg/RMZ_Dx-UGA4/s1600/P1030138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ba6706vR0Wg/TwB3UUfqHNI/AAAAAAAAATg/RMZ_Dx-UGA4/s320/P1030138.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />We have a lot of planned improvements for the new year, including membership cards and a points system to encourage attendance at the workshops and classes.&nbsp; The next big step is getting as much participation by community professionals as possible because up to now we have been running everything.<br /><br />Unfortunately we have had a recent detrimental set back to our shot at sustainability.&nbsp; My amazing new site mate, Katherine, has been forced to resign by the country director because she was caught in Lima without permission.&nbsp; I cannot express how disappointed I am by their poor decision.&nbsp; Katherine was what we call a "super volunteer" because of all the hard work she put into our youth center and her own project working with disabled children.&nbsp; In fact, she had been in Lima to buy some materials for her sensory deprivation room for autistic children in site.&nbsp; Now I am not condoning her illegal vacation but it is my understanding that volunteers get at least one warning in situations like these.&nbsp; Whatever the reasons, the decision to let her go has severely hurt our project, a project that Katie, Katherine, and myself have poured out hearts into and seen reasonable levels of success considering the challenges we face.&nbsp;<br /><br />Her absence is not just a personal loss for me but a significant loss for the Peruvian community of Cutervo, Cajamarca.&nbsp; So I am left with a sense of emptiness and frustration at progressing the Kutiri youth center without her.<br /><br />I wish to thank her for getting us this far and letting her know that no one in her community (or anyone who knew her for that matter) agrees with the decision forced upon her.&nbsp; We would never have made it this far without you Katherine - Thank you!Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-13463119632679464012011-10-02T19:22:00.000-07:002011-10-02T19:22:52.510-07:00Introducing the Kutiri Youth Center of Cutervo!Boy have I got a lot of information for you guys! A lot has happened since my last post and for me it really feels as if that time has just flown by. It really is a surprise to me that my last blog post was in June! <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I have been a very busy volunteer lately, and that is exactly how I like it. Just to recap what I have been up to and the newest developments...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><ol><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I am doing English pronunciation classes with a local school.</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I am working with the local municipality and health center to establish a sustainable youth center. We currently have our space and I have already begun work with the youth leaders. We had our first official event (a movie night) a few days ago. We named the center Kutiri – the native origin of the name of our town, Cutervo.</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Katie has joined me here in Peru and will be teaching English classes and helping me with my youth center. One of my counterparts at the health center wants her to help with nutrition workshops as well.</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I have a new site-mate! Her name is Kathryn and she is a special education specialist. She is going to be working on the youth center with me as well.</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I am working with another volunteer close to my town (an hour away) to create a huge job fair. We have the support of both our local governments and expect to have around 850 kids attend!</div></li></ol><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So instead of the usual long-winded story telling. I am going to just show you a ton of photos with descriptions :)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Enjoy!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_w1W8XrGZUQ/TokMiP6QYuI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/m6oIzZCj0fA/s1600/P1020738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_w1W8XrGZUQ/TokMiP6QYuI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/m6oIzZCj0fA/s320/P1020738.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bird watching with the kids and a local expert, Willy Castro (how cool of a name is that?)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cPQp3zllHQE/TokMwG4uAjI/AAAAAAAAAPU/Vm7fEwl3dnw/s1600/P1020750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cPQp3zllHQE/TokMwG4uAjI/AAAAAAAAAPU/Vm7fEwl3dnw/s320/P1020750.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the Arenal (sandy area) on the mountain above our city.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gWQztBSzZQE/TokNAfy12nI/AAAAAAAAAPY/Km_bLO8LF5E/s1600/P1020751.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gWQztBSzZQE/TokNAfy12nI/AAAAAAAAAPY/Km_bLO8LF5E/s320/P1020751.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We like to play ultimate frisbee here :)&nbsp; This was the first time most of these kids had even seen one.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mWiMCZagsE4/TokNY-WItpI/AAAAAAAAAPc/sLyS3TycTIw/s1600/P1020761.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mWiMCZagsE4/TokNY-WItpI/AAAAAAAAAPc/sLyS3TycTIw/s320/P1020761.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My youth leaders and I at the top of Mount Ilucan.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nfb4B8w4y18/TokPjO1ocDI/AAAAAAAAAPg/OkWnPlXUTSY/s1600/P1020770.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nfb4B8w4y18/TokPjO1ocDI/AAAAAAAAAPg/OkWnPlXUTSY/s320/P1020770.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just monkeying around.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h03tVY3C_Ys/TokPp0EIhzI/AAAAAAAAAPk/LpteBoaY71A/s1600/P1020781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h03tVY3C_Ys/TokPp0EIhzI/AAAAAAAAAPk/LpteBoaY71A/s320/P1020781.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My kids spent a good half hour trying to catch a tadpole... without avail.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FiutYpJNexY/TokP5MMYIMI/AAAAAAAAAPw/DMT41_1Fwwk/s1600/P1020850.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FiutYpJNexY/TokP5MMYIMI/AAAAAAAAAPw/DMT41_1Fwwk/s320/P1020850.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katie arrived in August, a really great birthday present!&nbsp; We went on vacation for two weeks to...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x9j_Q_Ej1ao/TokPvJj34UI/AAAAAAAAAPo/tGLz11yONME/s1600/P1020796.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x9j_Q_Ej1ao/TokPvJj34UI/AAAAAAAAAPo/tGLz11yONME/s320/P1020796.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...Arequipa!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YD2ngAE-sFQ/TokPzQqBdVI/AAAAAAAAAPs/U_jIlnwQ7LI/s1600/P1020811.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YD2ngAE-sFQ/TokPzQqBdVI/AAAAAAAAAPs/U_jIlnwQ7LI/s320/P1020811.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love Arequipa city and the surrounding area.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gvanu-ugP1E/TokQHtvZc7I/AAAAAAAAAP0/DvJ4KKW8zys/s1600/P1020862.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gvanu-ugP1E/TokQHtvZc7I/AAAAAAAAAP0/DvJ4KKW8zys/s320/P1020862.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We went hiking in the Colca Canyon - the deepest in the world!</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E23TRFOo_wM/TokQlalILvI/AAAAAAAAAQU/Dj9IVfQ9Aac/s1600/P1020922.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E23TRFOo_wM/TokQlalILvI/AAAAAAAAAQU/Dj9IVfQ9Aac/s320/P1020922.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When we got back to Cutervo it was time to get to work.&nbsp; We finally have the new youth center!&nbsp; Katie and my new site-mate Katherine are helping me get it going.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mOQSHRw-zxY/TokQL8CvmgI/AAAAAAAAAP4/p1BHKF5w3wU/s1600/P1020893.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mOQSHRw-zxY/TokQL8CvmgI/AAAAAAAAAP4/p1BHKF5w3wU/s320/P1020893.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We have three spaces in the new market.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PMPksT-t0yo/TokQQW1DFMI/AAAAAAAAAP8/exfcNeHSwBo/s1600/P1020896.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PMPksT-t0yo/TokQQW1DFMI/AAAAAAAAAP8/exfcNeHSwBo/s320/P1020896.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The two spaces with windows are ours.&nbsp; We will put a library in the top one and a computer center on the bottom one.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pgo26GXfEVM/TokQXTiUnNI/AAAAAAAAAQE/I9UqkpcUPks/s1600/P1020918.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pgo26GXfEVM/TokQXTiUnNI/AAAAAAAAAQE/I9UqkpcUPks/s320/P1020918.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our third space is shared with the municipality and comes complete with chairs, tables, and...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dPJc1-LPxs0/TokQUHjjkPI/AAAAAAAAAQA/REouyk9bq_M/s1600/P1020898.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dPJc1-LPxs0/TokQUHjjkPI/AAAAAAAAAQA/REouyk9bq_M/s320/P1020898.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is one of the spaces up close.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s_uj8FkcqaI/TokQaGYI7rI/AAAAAAAAAQI/6JIfeRT0Ov4/s1600/P1020919.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s_uj8FkcqaI/TokQaGYI7rI/AAAAAAAAAQI/6JIfeRT0Ov4/s320/P1020919.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... a kitchen!&nbsp; We are going to have sunday morning pancake breakfasts here.</td></tr></tbody></table>So that is it for now!&nbsp; I have been super busy - in a good way.<br /><br />Of course, like any start up non profit, we can use your support.&nbsp; Right now we have 75 books and I am writing grants to two non-profits for more.&nbsp; I am going to be working through a DU organization to get funding for the computers and everyone here would appreciate it so so much if you could help us out when the fund raising drive gets under way.&nbsp; I have one more year here and I am very confident we can leave Cutervo with a self-sustaining youth center by then.<br /><br />If you would like to send any materials or goodies for the center/kids, you can send it to my address in an envelope (no boxes please) weighing no more than 2 pounds.<br /><br />Chris Huey<br />Pasaje Yoyo Flores 180<br />La Familia Espejo Sanchez<br />Cutervo, Cajamarca, Peru<br /><br />Please check us out on www.kutiri.wordpress.com and friend us on facebook.&nbsp; My kids will get a kick out of seeing all the support from the US.&nbsp; I will be updating the Kutiri blog often with our current activities and successes, so please keep checking in.<br /><br /><br />Thank you again for everything!<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-60565953462380763442011-06-28T16:09:00.000-07:002011-06-28T16:09:43.691-07:00Time's Fun When You are Having FliesWow!&nbsp; I can't believe my last post was more than a month ago!&nbsp; I intended this post to be back to back with that one so you all don't think everything is horrible out here.&nbsp; Unfortunately I was so busy that it took waaay to long and many of you wrote me with kind words of inspiration and support.<br /><br />Actually, a lot of really amazing things are happening for me as well and I wouldn't give up my life here for anything.&nbsp; I having a lot of fun and many of my other projects are going along as planned.&nbsp; I just got a little carried away with the "frustrations" post I think.&nbsp; So here is my opportunity to get carried away with a "life is grand" post!<br /><br />So much has been happening lately it is hard to know where to begin.&nbsp; I guess I will start with the fun stuff.&nbsp; Right now Cutervo is celebrating it's annual town fiesta.&nbsp; There is a whole week of bull fighting, great food, fireworks, booze, and fried foods - a knockout combination if there ever was one!&nbsp; They do fireworks displays right here by building huge sugar cane towers with spinning spokes of fire and color, each level lighting before the next and ending in a huge display right in the center of the plaza de armas.&nbsp; It is all very dangerous and highly amusing!&nbsp; I have been up pretty late every night and I can see why they only do this one week out of every year.&nbsp; It is exhausting!<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5CdFHE4tZLQ/TgofCBR7zFI/AAAAAAAAAN8/yo14J_Qs0Ks/s1600/P1020464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5CdFHE4tZLQ/TgofCBR7zFI/AAAAAAAAAN8/yo14J_Qs0Ks/s320/P1020464.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plaza de Armas - Cutervo</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Being the only gringo in town, my host dad was able to get me a press pass for the bull fights.&nbsp; I get to stand in the ring right outside of the fighting arena with all the "rodeo clowns" and trainers.&nbsp; I can say I have started to become de-sensitized to the massacre and have even found myself enjoying the event.&nbsp; Of course part of the reason for this is the adrenaline rush of being so close to the action.&nbsp; The first day one of the bulls actually lept over the barrier wall and began charging around the outer circle I was standing in.&nbsp; We could only tell which way it was running by the people jumping up the walls and screaming in a counter-clockwise wave.&nbsp; The two guys I was standing with calmly but briskly pushed me towards the fighting arena and told me to jump the wall before the bull reached us.&nbsp; I did so without a problem and waited while they corralled it back into the arena.&nbsp; We switched sides again and the action continued as if nothing had happened.&nbsp; Not long after that, the same bull did it again!&nbsp; It was a blast and my family looks at me like I am a little nuts when I describe the event with some excitement.&nbsp; I secretly wish for it to happen again this week.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5wnFySjFw5E/Tgoeu9Y4kUI/AAAAAAAAAN4/zc5wU5ZJa_U/s1600/P1020396.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5wnFySjFw5E/Tgoeu9Y4kUI/AAAAAAAAAN4/zc5wU5ZJa_U/s320/P1020396.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was standing in this outer circle.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rlybMT9GqZs/TgofvqlxzQI/AAAAAAAAAOE/la6lplHtAaY/s1600/P1020520.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rlybMT9GqZs/TgofvqlxzQI/AAAAAAAAAOE/la6lplHtAaY/s320/P1020520.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Matador makes it look easy sometimes.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x_He0SFA264/TgofaJsVxkI/AAAAAAAAAOA/GYamqeFANuE/s1600/P1020500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x_He0SFA264/TgofaJsVxkI/AAAAAAAAAOA/GYamqeFANuE/s320/P1020500.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Matador goes in for the final blow.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />As for work, life is not as bad as I made it out to be.&nbsp; Professors and school directors have been seeking me out to plan programs for their classes.&nbsp; I am currently doing a Life Plans course (9 weeks long), an english pronunciation course (12 weeks long), a parenting course (TBD), leadership/self esteem charlas, and I am planning a course for english professors with the regional school board.&nbsp; All of this activity is allowing me to make close connections with people who are interested in seeing a youth center succeed.&nbsp; I have a list a mile long of kids who are reading to get started with group activities outside of school.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NDi0pnnOStQ/TgodQYYNg1I/AAAAAAAAANo/vbHQXqpp-LI/s1600/P1020181.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NDi0pnnOStQ/TgodQYYNg1I/AAAAAAAAANo/vbHQXqpp-LI/s320/P1020181.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Life Plan Class</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ds5Be5QENOk/Tgodm7VS1yI/AAAAAAAAANs/goTv3nPeIUM/s1600/P1020231.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ds5Be5QENOk/Tgodm7VS1yI/AAAAAAAAANs/goTv3nPeIUM/s320/P1020231.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My English pronunciation class.&nbsp; Katie will work with them when she gets here.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NYsqoNZccyA/TgotkQecLZI/AAAAAAAAAOU/XzxbweK0y8s/s1600/P1020140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NYsqoNZccyA/TgotkQecLZI/AAAAAAAAAOU/XzxbweK0y8s/s320/P1020140.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A leadership/self esteem charla in Socota with Annalise</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I recently received a grant from the DU Peace Corps community of $350 which I will be putting towards filling the center with furniture and other items we need.&nbsp; The space is reserved but getting all of my socios together to finalize things is like herding gigantic balding Peruvian cats.&nbsp; They all "promise" me that we can begin the real work after the town fiesta.&nbsp; So I have a huge meeting planned for the 6th of July where we will finalize the rent agreement and we should be able to move into the space a few days after that.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ShuAgkEGQts/TgosSaLfM-I/AAAAAAAAAOI/9Mqbxf-z6W0/s1600/P1020125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ShuAgkEGQts/TgosSaLfM-I/AAAAAAAAAOI/9Mqbxf-z6W0/s320/P1020125.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new space for the youth center</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OOLfRsRGMKk/TgotIaAulRI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/oFq6ZmLcgsM/s1600/P1020133.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OOLfRsRGMKk/TgotIaAulRI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/oFq6ZmLcgsM/s320/P1020133.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The courtyard of the new youth center</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CduWI8Z8Qus/Tgosx0F8ZiI/AAAAAAAAAOM/r_iyKjKLqW8/s1600/P1020132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CduWI8Z8Qus/Tgosx0F8ZiI/AAAAAAAAAOM/r_iyKjKLqW8/s320/P1020132.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the youth center</td></tr></tbody></table><br />As for home life, my sisters are really comfortable with me - we are constantly teasing and poking fun at each other so I know they have welcomed me into the family.&nbsp; My madre and I spend a lot of time cooking together and sharing recipes.&nbsp; I love her food and I have been sharing my favorite dishes (bread, pizza, pasta, cookies - all healthy) with her.&nbsp; She even wants me to show her how to make the pizza for her restaurant... she is the only spot in all of cutervo where you can get pizza and it always sells out really fast. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u46hBmTnmuo/TgoeV-Em3rI/AAAAAAAAAN0/7z9HKwBOyyQ/s1600/P1020303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u46hBmTnmuo/TgoeV-Em3rI/AAAAAAAAAN0/7z9HKwBOyyQ/s320/P1020303.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saludos from the family!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3m2O1ZiaCEQ/TgocbMld_XI/AAAAAAAAANg/FoDkk5YEoQU/s1600/P1020167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3m2O1ZiaCEQ/TgocbMld_XI/AAAAAAAAANg/FoDkk5YEoQU/s320/P1020167.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Best soup ever - Made by Lilia Espejo</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YJW9FUgFBO0/Tgoc16z0rEI/AAAAAAAAANk/e0VKPkg0ElA/s1600/P1020168.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YJW9FUgFBO0/Tgoc16z0rEI/AAAAAAAAANk/e0VKPkg0ElA/s320/P1020168.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I eat well... too well.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qsXdEH4YwNo/Tgod_s1LtVI/AAAAAAAAANw/W6zPQ4RYER8/s1600/P1020239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qsXdEH4YwNo/Tgod_s1LtVI/AAAAAAAAANw/W6zPQ4RYER8/s320/P1020239.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making pizza.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I am about to take a vacation as well!&nbsp; At the end of this week I will be headed to <a href="http://www.google.com.pe/search?q=chachapoyas&amp;hl=es-419&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;hs=2LI&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;prmd=ivnsum&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch&amp;ei=Tw8KTpiYLKTg0QHPpdmeAQ&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=mode_link&amp;ct=mode&amp;cd=2&amp;ved=0CBoQ_AUoAQ&amp;biw=1280&amp;bih=673">Chachapoyas</a> with a huge group of friends for our 4th of july vacation.&nbsp; We are going to hike, see ruins, cook, drink, and get of to all manner of shenanigans!&nbsp; I think it will be a good break and refresher.&nbsp; I won't leave site again until Katie comes up here on the 25th of August.<br /><br />This brings me to the next really awesome thing!&nbsp; Katie will be here for a long chunk of time.&nbsp; She will be doing some research on nutrition, teaching English at a local high school, and helping me with the youth center when she has time.&nbsp; She has her own apartment and living situation already set up.&nbsp; I am kind of jealous of her since she seems to have more structure than I have and she hasn't even arrived yet.&nbsp; I am sure we will make a great team - we have already been tossing around ideas for youth activities and organizations.&nbsp; It will be really nice to have a partner in crime to motivate me and keep things fresh.<br /><br />Speaking of a "partner in crime," there is a possibility that a new volunteer specializing in special education will be coming here to my site as well.&nbsp; So if all works out, there will be a gringo invasion of Cutervo!&nbsp; The city's youth can certainly use some native English speakers to practice with... actually the teachers themselves really need it too.<br /><br />On a non-Peace Corps related note, I am still working out what I want my masters paper to be about.&nbsp; I keep switching between youth development ideas and human trafficking... but I just can't find the research I need to inspire a full paper.&nbsp; I recently met a guy who works for the Peruvian equivalent of the FBI and he is very interested in giving me some info, so that is one lead.&nbsp; Also, I have been contributing to the <a href="http://awarecommunities.org/">Aware!</a> blog, dedicated to fair and rational discourse on the Israel/Palestine conflict if you want to check that out.<br /><br />I have been having a blast out here.&nbsp; My life is a fast-paced blur of events, classes, vacations, meetings, and great food.&nbsp; I hope to have all of the youth center logistics worked out within the next couple of weeks (nothing happens quickly in Peru) and then we can really get the ball rolling on the community youth development.<br /><br /><br />Thank you for all the kind wishes!<br /><br />&nbsp; <br />P.S. ~ I have figured out the mail thing as well!&nbsp; Send only packages in envelopes weighing no more than 2.2 pounds and it will get to me without a problem.&nbsp; Anything in a box, even if it weighs less than 2, will get sent to Chiclayo.<br /><br />P.S.S. ~ For some reason the flies have been awful even though the rainy season is over... there, I got my pessimistic remark in AND made the blog title relevant.&nbsp; Go me.Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-26746818934856337692011-05-14T17:29:00.000-07:002011-05-14T17:29:53.230-07:00Youth Center? What Youth Center?Hello everyone!&nbsp; I would first like to apologize for the long time between posts.&nbsp; I know many of you are interested to hear what I am doing out here and I owe it to you to post more.&nbsp; Also, please forgive my lack of phone contact, my skype account ran out of credit and I cannot contact anyone by land line or cellular anymore.&nbsp; However, if you wish to add me as a skype contact so we can talk for free, my username is christopher huey.&nbsp; Now back to your not-so-regularly scheduled blog...<br /><br />As most of you know, I have been here in Peru for almost a year now - in Cutervo for 9 months.&nbsp; I feel I have had a lot of personal development; I know spanish, I have received a lot of training in various subjects, I have learned how to bake...&nbsp; But one thing I feel that I have not done is contribute anything meaningful to my host community - yet.&nbsp; For the last 6 months I have been working with my local counterparts to find and rent a space where we can start a youth center.&nbsp; This will provide the adolescents with a safe and fun space to spend their free time and receive workshops from local professionals.&nbsp; I have the support of professors, psychologists, social workers, government staff, and other NGOs and yet, we have been unable to secure such a space.&nbsp; Why?<br /><br />I can easily&nbsp; deserve some of&nbsp; the blame due to my constant trips out of site and my inability to maintain contact with all the important players in Cutervo, but there are so many more factors that contribute to <i>our</i> failure to get a youth center started.<br /><br />1).&nbsp; Local Politics - It is not uncommon to have two different counterparts tell me that the other possesses many unsavory qualities and I should, therefore not work with him/her.&nbsp; I often have to tip-toe around these kinds of "gossip circles" but lately I have been more prone to being blunt about not being interested.&nbsp;&nbsp; I have also found that I need to appeal to the vanity and ambitions of local leaders in order to get the necessary connections or resources for the youth center.&nbsp; I had one director of an organization here make it perfectly clear that since I had nothing to offer him he was uninterested in the project.<br /><br />2).&nbsp; Social / Cultural Norms - I arrived assuming that doing business would, more or less, be the same as anywhere else I have visited and worked but this has not been the case.&nbsp; There is something here called "La Hora Peruana" in which it is common, nay expected, to arrive to all meetings at least 30 minutes late.&nbsp; Often times these meetings drag on hours longer than they should, making it nearly impossible to schedule&nbsp; back to back events in a day.&nbsp; I had to learn patience because most meetings are 80% niceties and 20% business.&nbsp; For example, when someone enters a meeting late, they are expected to walk around the room and say hello to each individual and then they are rewarded their tardiness with the floor to say what they like - completely interrupting whoever was speaking before.<br /><br />3).&nbsp; Money - This is an obvious challenge, and one that every social program struggles with on a daily basis.&nbsp; We have been offered only 150 soles (around 50 dollars) from the local government, which is not even enough to rent a space, let alone pay for utilities.&nbsp; I have been trying to make it clear that without a commitment from the community there can be no commitment from foreign donors but it is hard to explain how the investment in a youth center will benefit the community when they have never offered youth services and there is a severe lack of...<br /><br />4).&nbsp; Statistical Data - I have lots of anecdotal evidence suggesting that teen violence, vandalism, drug and alcohol use, and adolescent prostitution are all on the rise but the police and municipality do not keep those kinds of records.&nbsp; They only records I can get to show an increased risk for youth development is the rising pregnancy rates.&nbsp; The municipality wants hard data to suggest why a youth center is necessary but they themselves have failed to gather that data.<br /><br />Combine all this with the fact that my most active counterpart stole money from me and has fallen off the grid and one can understand my frustrations.&nbsp; However, despite the odds stacking up against me I have found a new group of counterparts who have risen to the challenges and have offered to help me gather some data, write a formal request for funds, and help get the project off the ground.&nbsp; I can only hope to contribute something tangible to the whole process but it has become very apparent that I do not understand how business is conducted in my region.<br /><br />So, dear reader, please forgive the tone of this post but it is important that my friends and family understand that my work here is not a walk in the park... Even when working with dedicated and passionate individuals who understand the process and work very hard to achieve a sustainable social service - it is no a simple feat.&nbsp; Not even to rent a room.<br /><br />Your frustrated and hopeful Peace Corps volunteer,<br /><br />ChrisChristopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-83441897106954756572011-02-06T13:09:00.000-08:002011-02-17T15:22:40.039-08:00A Day in the Life of...<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So what exactly does a Peace Corps volunteer do?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I used to ask that question all the time to friends at DU who had just come back from their service at the far corners of the world and quickly realized I was never going to get a straight answer. The truth is that a gajillion factors determine what a volunteer might do in site. Your country, your site, your assigned goals, your personal goals, your ability to integrate, your ability to learn the language, your confidence and self-esteem levels, your prior experience, support from administrators, support from friends and family back home, even your ability to stay healthy in site all have an impact on what you do out in the field. I can only describe my own experience because even the volunteer living an hour away from me is living such a different life that she might as well be in some other country.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I live in a city of approximately 15,000 people. It is called Cutervo and it is located in the department of Cajamarca in Northern Peru. We share a boarder with Equador, and in fact I can get to that boarder in about 5 hours if I wanted. We are nestled on the front range of the Andes mountains that is dryer and resembles the Rockies in a lot of ways. It gets pretty cold at night but it never snows. Just an hour outside of this plateau you can find a tropical forest area, which is where my fellow volunteer lives. If you go further in that direction (12 hours maybe) you will hit the Amazon. For those history buffs out there, Cajamarca city is where Incan Emperor Altahualpa made his last stand against Pizzaro. But I don't live anywhere near that city. In fact, it takes me about 10 hours to get there by bus. Hour-wise I live further from Lima than any other volunteer, except my friend an hour further away. When the roads are bad it can take me up to 21 hours just to get from my site to the coast.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU76aiFskqI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/GC6PwpaiQE0/s1600/P1010635.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU76aiFskqI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/GC6PwpaiQE0/s320/P1010635.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Now that you have an idea of where I live I will give you an idea of what I do with my time here. I often hear about how Peace Corps is basically a two year paid vacation, and it probably is for some volunteers. For me I was placed in a site that was eager to have me around – in fact they specifically asked for a youth volunteer to be placed here and I was greeted by social workers and professors that couldn't wait to start working on some projects. I work with a non-profit called the Cutervo Youth Association (APROJOC), the regional department of health promotion, the municipality, the directors of all the high schools, and several other random individuals. Together with this great support network we have some really big plans for the future of Cutervo youth... mwahaha! (an evil laugh seemed obligatory there).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I usually wake up pretty late. Maybe around 9 or 10. I am a volunteer after all! I have breakfast with my host mom, Lilia, and we chat for about an hour. Then, if I have a lot of things on my list of things-to-do I head up to my room and work until around 2. During this time I am usually planning and writing up charlas (workshops), youth development courses, youth center proposals, presentations, and solicitudes (formal requests) for help and resources. After lunch ends at about 3:30 I either head to the office at the Health Department to have meetings and plan upcoming events. The majority of the meetings lately have been to get a youth center up and running before I leave for the States in March. I have also had my fair share of time on the radio and television – so yeah... i'm kind of a big deal.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU75VFFvZxI/AAAAAAAAAMM/o7LPvm-r2rE/s1600/P1010540.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU75VFFvZxI/AAAAAAAAAMM/o7LPvm-r2rE/s1600/P1010540.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7zyIXbnHI/AAAAAAAAAMA/wq6JXo4AQRA/s1600/P1010379.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7zyIXbnHI/AAAAAAAAAMA/wq6JXo4AQRA/s320/P1010379.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I usually give two or three charlas a week. I give a weekly english class at an organization called Data Mundo, I give random charlas on leadership and self-esteem to kids at schools, and I also do a monthly parenting class at a local pre-school. A typical charla is between one and two hours and I usually start with an introduction/warm up game. I then lead a discussion on the topic and we play two or three games that relate to that topic (debriefing after each one). We wrap it up with some kind of group activity or competition and I like to give prizes to keep them motivated. We end the session by doing a check for learning to make sure they got the point and might demonstrate some of the behaviors away from class. In reality, most of the kids I work with are lacking basic self-esteem and just getting them to play and participate in a group is incredibly important for their overall development.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7pZkuY8AI/AAAAAAAAAL0/MZM3wybIXHk/s1600/P1010189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7pZkuY8AI/AAAAAAAAAL0/MZM3wybIXHk/s320/P1010189.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7x2w4qubI/AAAAAAAAAL8/qdU6bbf9jyE/s1600/P1010324.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7x2w4qubI/AAAAAAAAAL8/qdU6bbf9jyE/s320/P1010324.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7162Twv6I/AAAAAAAAAME/DIAZJdsrULM/s1600/P1010470.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7162Twv6I/AAAAAAAAAME/DIAZJdsrULM/s320/P1010470.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU77_J7ZvMI/AAAAAAAAAMU/X1gEiW5ZTWs/s1600/P1010652.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU77_J7ZvMI/AAAAAAAAAMU/X1gEiW5ZTWs/s320/P1010652.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU8Q2vpq9bI/AAAAAAAAAMY/JHM5zmxI-ms/s1600/P1010668.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU8Q2vpq9bI/AAAAAAAAAMY/JHM5zmxI-ms/s320/P1010668.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I don't like free time. I think free time here is a death sentence for a volunteer. It allows you to feel lonely and start wondering what you are doing with your life... also, it's boring. I use up my free time by helping a few friends with english, translating written material for other friends (including a book on birds by my host uncle), and playing guitar with my buddy Oscar (he is teaching me all sorts of spanish guitar songs). I also go hiking when the weather is right. I live in such a beautiful country that it would be a shame to spend all of my time inside. I am just a 20 minute hike away from amazing vistas of rolling green hills with nary a building in sight.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7nvff0g5I/AAAAAAAAALw/M5Y2Jy4WmFg/s1600/P1010147.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7nvff0g5I/AAAAAAAAALw/M5Y2Jy4WmFg/s1600/P1010147.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If I am not doing any of those things I am usually traveling outside of my site (more than I would like). I leave for meetings, trainings, charlas, parties, packages, and camping. As you all know, even a trip to go get my packages in Chiclayo can take almost a week of my time. But it is nice to have the excuse to see new places and sometimes I just want to get away from the day-to-day of Cutervo.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In the evenings I go to the new hamburger restaurant my host mom just opened. I sit at the bar with her and my sister Madoli and we joke around, drink tea, and play video games. Yep, I corrupted them both and they can't get enough of Bejeweled.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU8SJ4Et5lI/AAAAAAAAAMc/8AV8dcxK89s/s1600/P1010699.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU8SJ4Et5lI/AAAAAAAAAMc/8AV8dcxK89s/s320/P1010699.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I am a lucky volunteer. I have a great family, lots of active coworkers, a comfortable living environment... I love my work and I feel validated to be doing something that I think will help the city of Cutervo. It took me about 5 months to get the point where I felt like Cutervo is home but now I revel in the realization that I cannot walk two blocks down this city of 15,000 people without someone calling out my name and having an lively discussion about my work or life. I feel accepted and loved here in Cutervo, Cajamarca, Peru, and there is really nothing else I could want for the work I do.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7qtDjoLSI/AAAAAAAAAL4/08giVi5qqZ0/s1600/P1010229.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU7qtDjoLSI/AAAAAAAAAL4/08giVi5qqZ0/s1600/P1010229.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU73C6qvdsI/AAAAAAAAAMI/IuN9wSz545o/s1600/P1010484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU73C6qvdsI/AAAAAAAAAMI/IuN9wSz545o/s320/P1010484.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">UPDATE ON PACKAGES:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">ok, so the Chiclayo trip is costing me too much time and money and I had to figure out how to change the situation. I talked with the post master here in Cutervo and he said I could give him a notarized statement for them to open my packages in customs without my present and then send them directly here. Also, he said that if I don't want them going to customs at all you can just put it in a packing envelope and make sure the weight is under 2 kilograms (about 4.5 pounds).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I love receiving just letters or magazines too!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As always my address is:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Pasaje Yoyo Flores 180</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Cutervo, Cajamarca</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Peru</div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-77427041437104258862011-02-05T20:05:00.000-08:002011-02-05T20:08:01.362-08:00Ole!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU4aJTvKQlI/AAAAAAAAALs/sEaX_tR1Nx4/s1600/P1010054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU4aJTvKQlI/AAAAAAAAALs/sEaX_tR1Nx4/s200/P1010054.JPG" width="180" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU4VctEgC3I/AAAAAAAAALo/ZRi-uStinCg/s1600/P1010053.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TU4VctEgC3I/AAAAAAAAALo/ZRi-uStinCg/s200/P1010053.JPG" width="180" /></a><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I have always wanted to see a bull fight. It is not so much the violence I have craved as much as seeing a guy in tights try and dodge a massive raging bull. I got my wish this past week during the town festival of Socota – a tropical site only an hour away from my own. I arrived with a lot of assumptions and left with a lot of disillusions.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For example, I had always assumed there is only one type of bull fight. From the rare glimpses I have had of this “sport” in the media I had thought that it was mostly a show of acrobatics – much like a modern western bull-riding is about the strength and skill of the cowboy, so to is bull-fighting about the abilities of a torero (matador). I assumed they would put on a show of how easily and gracefully the matador could manipulate the bull. I didn't expect there to be actual violence. Apparently, my idea of a bull fight does exist, but in Socota I went to the latter.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">However it felt less like a bull fight and more like a bull slaughter. They start things off by arranging various matador “assistants” around the ring. These assistants (for lack of a better term) are basically the rodeo-clows of the bull fighting world. Their job is to distract the bull when necessary. The bull is released and it is pissed... I have no clue what they might have done to it behind the arena to achieve this but it is out for blood – or the color red, for some reason. It charges at anything moving and red, which the assistants happen to be waving. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">After they have spent a good chunk of time teasing the bull a man on a blinded horse trots out onto the arena. The horse is equipped with some special equipment for this phase. It is blinded with cloth so it doesn't realize that a pissed off bull is rampaging around it trying trying to catch a red clothed clown. It is also wrapped in heavy leather to protect its legs for said bull. Finally, the rider has his legs inside of pvc piping to protect his legs as well. The rider carries a long and menacing looking pike. It is now the job of the assistants to maneuver the bull next to the rider so he may critically wound it behind the neck. I should also point out at this point that the bull was already exhausted from the teasing and was frequently falling to its knees and panting... but it really wanted to kill a clown (can't blame it really).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So now the rider, having wounded the bull, trots his horse out of the arena, leaving the bull literally spurting blood out of its back. Now the brave matador struts in to the wild applause of the crowd. Seriously, these guys are like rocks stars here. He grabs a big red piece of cloth and the assistants run for cover so he becomes the target of the dizzy bull's aggression. This part was pretty cool. He would deftly dodge the bull and as he gained more confidence he would get to his knees and taunt the bull that way. It's really something you have to see to understand how crazy it was.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">After playing around with the bull for a while he gets up and grabs two small spears (about a foot and a half long each) and as the bull runs straight for him he must lunge these into the back of the bull's neck and at the same time avoid being run through by the bull's horns. I would say this is the closest part to actually being an equal fight between matador and bull (not forgetting of course the bull is already weak and wounded).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Now the matador turns his back on the panting and wounded bull. The crowd goes wild. I mean, they go absolutely nuts at this blatant and bold turn away from the dangerous bull. He plays off the crowd by walking around the arena as the bull, now standing in the middle of the ring, looks around almost confused at what he is supposed to be doing. Apparently, if there is no guy taunting him with red, he is one lost bull. The matador struts to the sidelines and gets some water, takes a brief break, and grabs a sword.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Now is the part where I get flashbacks of the movie “Gladiator” where the hero has been drugged so the emperor can defeat him the the ring. The bull is bleeding to death from the pike wound and the two to four tiny spears sticking out of its neck. It is struggling to breath and is more often than not falling to its knees from the exhaustion of the last 20 minutes of fighting clowns and a jerk with a red towel. I have no doubt this bull is wondering where it went wrong in a past life to deserve such retribution from a clown army.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Anyway, the matador plays around with the bull a bit more – sword hidden behind the red cloth. Eventually the bull and the matador stand face to face. The matador raises the sword from its hiding place and aims it over the bull's head and taunts the bull to charge one last time. If the matador's aim is true the sword will slide almost effortlessly to the heart and the bull will lose its strength and fall to its death. Unfortunately for the bull, its heart is a small target in comparison to, lets say, its lungs. The matador misses, the crowd and the bull are instantly aware of the mistake as the poor animal's eyes go so wide you can see their whites in the back rows of the arena. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The bull begins to violently cough up blood, backing up away from the sight of it. The blood is spraying everywhere and the audience becomes quiet. That silence made it so much worse to watch the bull struggling to breath – literally drowning in its own blood, now totally unaware of the matador or clowns surrounding it. Finally it falls to the dirt, convulsing between gurgling gasps as a merciful clown approaches it from behind and severs its spinal cord. Four legs kick and twitch as the blade makes its way through the sinew, fat, bone, and nerve. At last the eyes, only a moment ago wide with panic, roll up into the bull's head. It is over. The crowd politely applauds the not-so-great job of the matador and the clowns reset for another bull.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I watched three fights that day and I would only describe one as a fairly clean kill. I fulfilled my wish of seeing a bull fight and in that I also got my fill of bull fights. I don't need to see a wounded and outnumbered animal be stabbed to death over and over until it is finally put out of its misery. I am not alone and it is not just me speaking from a cultural gap as I have spoken to many peruvians that are not so wild about the sport either. From now on I think I will be sticking to the bull fights where the matadors show how well they can dodge a bull and call it a day. But hey, try everything at least once, right?</div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-25987479405113807152011-01-03T13:29:00.000-08:002011-01-03T13:34:00.855-08:00Somos Peru!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I would like to take this moment to thank all of you great people for sending me packages. &nbsp;Yes, you may have sent them out more than a month and a half ago but rest assured that as of today I have gotten my grubby mits on them.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You may be asking yourself, "why did it take so long?" and I have a pretty good story for that. &nbsp;It is quite an epic story actually. &nbsp;One of adventure, travel, love lost and love found... but above all, this is a story of paperwork and bureaucracy<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">. &nbsp;</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">To begin, you probably need to know something about the package system here in Peru. &nbsp;If you send me a package that is really heavy or in a box of any sort, it will get sent to the nearest customs processing center (which for me is in the city of Chiclayo on the Peruvian coast 11 hours away from my home). &nbsp;This in itself is not a problem because, lets be honest, who wouldn't want an excuse to go hang out on the coast for a weekend? &nbsp;No, the real problem comes in the form of... well, forms. &nbsp;I first knew you all had sent me packages over a month ago while I was in Ancash for my early In-Service-Training when my host mother called me to tell me so. &nbsp;I found out I would not be able to get them on my way home (where I pass Chiclayo) because I needed the forms she was holding in Cutervo.</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">No worries, I can make another trip to the coast later in the month right? &nbsp;So finally the day came where I could make the time to travel. &nbsp;I had to do it quickly because the forms told me I had to pick up the packages by January 3rd. &nbsp;It doesn't say why or what will happen if I fail to get them in time, but that "or else" clause loomed over my head like an angry storm cloud. &nbsp;I arrived on the 31st only to find out I would have to stick around until Monday because of the new year. &nbsp;"Ok," I told myself, "this is my bad for trying to get them on the new year." &nbsp;So I made the reservations for the hotel and dug in to spend a ton of money in the big city - something I can hardly afford.</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Monday rolls around and I am sitting at the post office early in the morning anxiously but patiently awaiting my chance to tear into all those great goodies. &nbsp;I could almost taste the reeses and twizzlers...mmm &nbsp;So I waited... and waited... and waited. &nbsp;Finally, three hours later (because they don't form lines and don't call names on a first-come-first-served basis), it was my turn. &nbsp;I walked into a little room and sat in front of the man between be and my twizzlers. &nbsp;He took my passport copies, attached each one to the forms I had brought from cutervo, filled out three new form each with three carbon copies, stapled it all together and then looked up at me expectantly. &nbsp;Funny thing was, I was looking at him expectantly too - surely this was the part where I get my twizzlers.</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">I was wrong. &nbsp;He asked me for my ID. &nbsp;I pointed at the three copies of my passport and he said "no I need the original."</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">"Ummm, I don't have the original." &nbsp;I stammered, "The organization I work for has it to make my Peruvian ID. &nbsp;They told me I wouldn't need more than a copy to get packages."</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">The man glowered at me from across the seemingly expanding desk. &nbsp; "Well, they are wrong, the law says you must have your original and until you bring it here I can't give you your packages. NEXT!"</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">"Wait!" I cried, "What am I supposed to do? &nbsp;I live 11 hours away, my passport is in Lima, and according to the form this is the last day I can pick up the packages."</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">"I can't help you. NEXT!"</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">I left the office exasperated and shaking. &nbsp;I pulled out my phone but was at a loss about who to call. &nbsp;I flipped through my address book a few times and tried to call a few numbers of some peace corps staff but no one was answering. &nbsp;By the time I got to one of the Lima staff member's numbers I was close to having a nervous break down and began hyper-ventilating&nbsp;a little.</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">I may get frustrated with peace corps own&nbsp;</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">bureaucracy sometimes but I they really stepped up to the plate for me on this on. &nbsp;I got ahold of one staff member who connected me with three more right then and there. &nbsp;They called the post office and that very mean man was outside of his office within 10 minutes acting as if I was the bloody king of jolly old england. &nbsp;"Yes sir, right this way sir, here are your packages sir." &nbsp;Complete 180. &nbsp;This didn't change the fact that three more sheets and lots more signatures and copies had to be made and I still didn't leave for another hour. &nbsp;But I am proud to announce that after 11 hours of bus travel, four days of waiting, hundreds of soles, and a near-nervous break down I have a twizzler dangling from my mouth as I write.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I have come to the conclusion that if you would like to send me anything else (and I really do love it when you guys send me things) you should stick to envelopes (large or small). &nbsp;These come directly to my house and save me a lot of trouble. &nbsp;I hate that I had to learn this the hard way but at least I did learn it right? &nbsp;Right?</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We have a saying among the volunteers when life here get out of our control - "Somos Peru" or "We are Peru." &nbsp;No telephone service for a week? Somos Peru. &nbsp;Your bus just stopped in the middle of nowhere because the driver forgot to fill up with gas before leaving? Somos Peru. &nbsp;Water is out and you haven't showered for a week? Somos Peru. &nbsp;Some guy won't give you your packages after you traveled 11 hours to get them? &nbsp;Somos Peru!</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And while the small things like these remind me that I am here for a reason; attempting to education my kids on the importants of showing up on time, keeping commitments, and the importance of planning in advance, these small things also remind me of something else - namely that I would damn near kill to get a reeses or twizzler.</span>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-92110115420217672792010-12-10T16:34:00.000-08:002010-12-10T16:34:47.247-08:00Rediscovering Peru<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Hello again and welcome to another episode of “PEACE CORPS ADVENTURES... FROM SPACE!” I'm just kidding... I am technically not in space but I thought it sounded cooler. It has been a wild ride since I last wrote. With the holidays whipping by faster than I can account for, I have been preparing and participating in dinners, events, travels, training, and work at what feels like a break-neck speed and I am loving every minute of it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">During camp VALOR in Cajamarca, I made the decision to travel to Ancash and share thanksgiving with my volunteer friends surrounded by snow capped Andean mountains and glacial lakes. As you can imagine, it did not take too much convincing to get me there. Before leaving I had to cancel or move a lot of workshops and meetings to the week when I would be back. The school year ends this week so I had no choice but to overload myself. Luckily, when I got back one of the volunteers living close to me asked if she can help out because she lives in a smaller site with less to keep her occupied. I readily agreed and I am looking forward to working with her.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Travel from Cutervo to anywhere is an adventure in itself. Just to get to the bus that would take us to the Peruvian Coast and Panamerican Highway was a 4.5 hour trip (usually 2) because of construction on the rough dirt roads. As with most travel between sites, we use local station wagons that cram two people in the front with the driver (the middle person quite literally getting the shaft) and four in the back seat (usually with someone sitting on a lap or two) and the cargo area is usually full of luggage and bags filled with business wares. It is not a very comfortable ride and your hair and lungs are filled with road dust by the end but it gets the job done. Once we arrived in Chota we bought tickets on a not-so-reliable bus company to get to the coastal capital of Chiclayo. I say it is not reliable because it takes a very scary route through one lane dirt roads with sheer drops to a sure death and the drivers are known for drinking a local alcohol made from sugar cane called cañaso. There were no other options as we were meeting a friend along the way but from the stories I hear, it does not really matter what agency we use and tales of buses going off the high cliffs reach Cutervo gossip circles on a regular basis.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As we pulled into Chiclayo my jaw steadily dropped more and more with every passing city block. I had just come from my site, which I consider to be a very modern city with all the amenities and here I was, transported into what looked like a modern US metropolis. The size and modernity of it all was not what shocked me so much as the sheer diversity of the businesses, architecture, and people. I have gotten so used to my life in Cutervo that I was quickly overwhelmed while standing in a seemingly endless isle at the supermarket trying to decide what type of coffee I wanted to buy. I had forgotten what sensory overload of that kind feels like and I ended up leaving without buying any at all. As I slowly reoriented myself to life in a real city, we took another 4 hour bus (along paved roads!) to the city of Trujillo (called the city of eternal spring by locals). This is perhaps my favorite of all the cities in look and feel. It has beautiful colonial architecture with a large cathedral or church on what feels like every corner. It has a european flare with outdoor cafes and antique book stores and I had a blast just exploring. Unfortunately, we had only hours to experience what Trujillo has to offer and we were once again on another bus to Huaraz, Ancash ten hours inland.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQK5LzSampI/AAAAAAAAAKM/iSq4oSODAFg/s1600/P1010614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQK5LzSampI/AAAAAAAAAKM/iSq4oSODAFg/s320/P1010614.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The city of Huaraz itself is small but what it lacks in scale it makes up for in character. Huaraz sits in a valley surrounded by the tall snow-capped peaks of the Andes, shadowed by the tallest mountain in Peru named Huazcaran. A stroll through the streets reveals a strong economic focus on tourism, with local artisans selling their wares on street corners and every block containing at least one hostal and internet cafe. The resturaunts are my favorite part and add much to a very bohemian feel in the city. Almost all of them have book exchanges, hiking maps, couches, and cappuccinos. The night life, too, is fueled by the presence of young tourists looking to unwind from a day of hiking and exploring and it is not uncommon to find two different scenes in the same club/bar – one with up to date US club music and one with local Peruvian dance tunes. It is almost silly how polarized these two scenes are; you can almost delineate Peruvians and foreigners with a pole.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQLG54sr_VI/AAAAAAAAAKs/-7QifgfjzKI/s1600/DSCN5284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQLG54sr_VI/AAAAAAAAAKs/-7QifgfjzKI/s320/DSCN5284.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Thanksgiving in Ancash was fantastic. I made a banana pudding and had to learn to make homemade whipped cream to go on top. The morning of our thanksgiving day extravaganza there was a 5k turkey trot charity run. It was so beautiful running through those mountains – at least it was beautiful until I was huffing and puffing to remain conscious for the rest of the race. I am proud to say that I did not come in last... which is good enough for me! The rest of the day was spent joking around in the kitchen while we prepared sweet potatoes (camote), mashed potatoes and gravy, pies, veggies, and fruit salads. Two big turkeys were placed in a local baker's adobe oven and were cooked to perfection. I would say that by the time we sat down to the amazing meal with many of our new Peruvian friends, I had decided this was the best thanksgiving of my life. We started the meal with a couple of speeches from our hosts about what thanksgiving means to us and we ended the meal with a dance party (unfortunately only the volunteers participated).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQLCBFimF6I/AAAAAAAAAKk/PUrM-p_gr-w/s1600/DSC_6446.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQLCBFimF6I/AAAAAAAAAKk/PUrM-p_gr-w/s320/DSC_6446.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQK_U36BTkI/AAAAAAAAAKU/GYhINwKd0WA/s1600/P1010545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQK_U36BTkI/AAAAAAAAAKU/GYhINwKd0WA/s320/P1010545.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQLBL8xS0II/AAAAAAAAAKg/mGTY47YgQ58/s1600/peru3+088.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQLBL8xS0II/AAAAAAAAAKg/mGTY47YgQ58/s320/peru3+088.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The next day a group of us woke up early to go hiking to Chuirup, a glacial lake at 14,500 feet. The hike was not all that hard but I ended up paying for not eating a subtantial breakfast and dizziness set in during some of the more dangerous parts. I took a rest to eat something and we made it to the lake while the cloud cover was still low. The photos I have may not do it justice but this lake is on my top five list of the most amazing places I have seen in my life. It was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed long enough to take photos, eat lunch, and let one of our crazy friends swim in the lake as part of a dare with another volunteer (see who can swim in the most glacial lakes). He was shivering for most of the time we remained and we headed back down to get some warmth. It was by far one of the coolest things I have done since arriving in Peru.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQLDN1FafeI/AAAAAAAAAKo/dpGbR08SBxY/s1600/P1010557.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQLDN1FafeI/AAAAAAAAAKo/dpGbR08SBxY/s320/P1010557.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQK-GUALzLI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/dBHuGi-_-eY/s1600/P1010569.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQK-GUALzLI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/dBHuGi-_-eY/s320/P1010569.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQK2O8EGO3I/AAAAAAAAAKI/vJQiqb3TxUk/s1600/P1010578.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TQK2O8EGO3I/AAAAAAAAAKI/vJQiqb3TxUk/s320/P1010578.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">After all that I still had a week of training in another very beautiful part of Ancash. I had the opportunity to see old friends and we had a blast catching up on each other's lives. Many of them helped me realize that I am not here in Peru just to work but to learn about and experience the culture as well. Now that I am back in site and I am more energized and optimistic than ever, I realize that I must take small trips outside my site if I am to avoid burn out and keep doing the best work I can do. I am hoping to go to Chiclayo again soon and take a dip in the ocean. I will also plan a trip with some students to go see some ruins close by – we might even get a local expert to come along and explain it to us. I heard there are some really cool cave systems in the San Andres National Park near us too... so let the adventures begin!</div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-47558670231801904162010-11-20T15:22:00.000-08:002010-11-20T15:22:02.173-08:00Kickin' It With the Kids!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Hello and welcome back to my little part of the digital world! &nbsp;So much has happened since we last met... I ate about 3 guinea pigs (actually I just kind of moved them around the plate and picked at them a little), my whole town was without phone or internet service for about a week, I travelled to Cajamarca city for a youth camp, and I learned how to say "no!"<br /><br />First up I think we should all take a look at this monkey:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhE692Ss3I/AAAAAAAAAJI/KESe185h3_s/s1600/P1010438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhE692Ss3I/AAAAAAAAAJI/KESe185h3_s/s320/P1010438.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't he cute!?</td></tr></tbody></table><div>So I have been pretty darn busy but the good thing is that almost every moment has been a blast. &nbsp;I would love to find a way to make this kind of work my career. &nbsp;I met the little fella above in Sócota:</div><div><br /><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhHLjd23qI/AAAAAAAAAJM/hdSkmSq3AuY/s1600/P1010442.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhHLjd23qI/AAAAAAAAAJM/hdSkmSq3AuY/s320/P1010442.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty right?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>This is the site of my friend and fellow volunteer, Annalise:</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhIV58HBZI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/pAW87BGKKaE/s1600/P1010444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhIV58HBZI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/pAW87BGKKaE/s320/P1010444.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I look good!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Together we went to a small campo called Laguna Shita (we still giggle about this) to do some workshops on self-esteem and leadership with all of the kids of the newly established school there. &nbsp;I got to watch poor blindfolded children try to make it through a field of trash without touching a piece while about 50 other children screamed out directions... they seemed amused so I don't feel too bad</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhKLzK-wGI/AAAAAAAAAJU/rA2A07_dnaM/s1600/P1010469.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhKLzK-wGI/AAAAAAAAAJU/rA2A07_dnaM/s320/P1010469.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My workshop was on leadership.</td></tr></tbody></table>Annalise was doing something along the lines of self-esteem. &nbsp;I have to say I feel I got the better end of the deal because I got to work with the secondaria while she had to work with the tiny ones. &nbsp;She laughed at me when I asked if kids that age know how to read...<br /><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhLHwfzS1I/AAAAAAAAAJY/YJ2WBjOCZX4/s1600/P1010465.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhLHwfzS1I/AAAAAAAAAJY/YJ2WBjOCZX4/s320/P1010465.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who knows what Annalise's workshop was...</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>I made some friends from her group though!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhLkUeyBJI/AAAAAAAAAJc/sh6ATlFE1iU/s1600/P1010484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhLkUeyBJI/AAAAAAAAAJc/sh6ATlFE1iU/s320/P1010484.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhSDYjfGdI/AAAAAAAAAJs/7bqwpsFiE_I/s1600/P1010486.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhSDYjfGdI/AAAAAAAAAJs/7bqwpsFiE_I/s320/P1010486.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Apparently I cannot get enough of these kids because the following week I was in Cajamarca city for a boy's youth camp. &nbsp;(where Incan Emperor Atahualpa was captured by Pizarro - they have some really nice hot springs there so I can't really blame the dude for chilling out there while Pizarro marched through&nbsp;conquering his empire).</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We played games, I gave a charla on trash and the&nbsp;environment, we ate ice cream, and hung out in the hot springs - &nbsp;no, really, my job is a lot harder than it sounds ;)</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhMS7BKt_I/AAAAAAAAAJg/3cNcRI1JPZo/s1600/P1010498.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhMS7BKt_I/AAAAAAAAAJg/3cNcRI1JPZo/s320/P1010498.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trust Falls! &nbsp;Oh man this takes me back...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhNXbTi-1I/AAAAAAAAAJk/yXytkPHugsw/s1600/P1010515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhNXbTi-1I/AAAAAAAAAJk/yXytkPHugsw/s320/P1010515.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A tour of the University of Cajamarca's green houses.</td></tr></tbody></table>It was a great trip and we will be doing one for the female youth in a few more months. &nbsp;Right now I am finishing up my community diagnostic and making preparations for my trip to <a href="http://www.google.com.pe/images?q=ancash%20peru&amp;um=1&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;source=og&amp;sa=N&amp;hl=en&amp;tab=wi&amp;biw=1276&amp;bih=707">Ancash</a>, where I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with some friends, do some hiking, and attend a week long training. &nbsp;It will be a much needed break and a great chance to recharge. &nbsp;To be honest I have kind of forgotten I am even in Peru, it just feels like home now - &nbsp;getting out and seeing the sites will get my excitement up.<div><br /></div><div>I hope you enjoyed sharing a little bit of my experience with me, but before you go I would like to show you part of my host home that you have not seen yet.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhO8COgvlI/AAAAAAAAAJo/kSdo3Xme_lc/s1600/P1010529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TOhO8COgvlI/AAAAAAAAAJo/kSdo3Xme_lc/s320/P1010529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is our back yard.</td></tr></tbody></table>My host dad has put up a grill (behind the photo) and a beautiful flower bed (to the right of the photo) and plans on putting up a vegetable garden and a table for picnics.<div><br /></div><div>It is certainly hard to think that it is fall out there in the states right now... I really miss the halloween/thanksgiving/christmas atmosphere but, on the other hand, I most certainly cannot complain.</div><div><br /></div><div>Remember that you are always welcome to visit!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-9820347095611519792010-10-29T16:24:00.000-07:002010-10-29T16:24:36.511-07:00It's All About the Comida Baby<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">Hey everyone! I think a blog is long over due. I kept planning on writing on the topic of Peruvian food but kept forgetting to take photos of what I was eating... because, let's face it, whats a food blog without photos?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> First off I would like to send a shout out to the wonderful friends and family who have sent me letters or packages over the last couple of months. My mom sent me a really great package with some peanut butter (which you can't find here) and post cards of Colorado. The latter went over a little better than the former but my host mom said she liked the peanut butter. The love of my life, Katie, has also been sending me some really great letters and small items from Japan (where she is currently studying). And also, thank you to Danny Lambert for the awesome letter in spanish as well as the articles. As a returned Peace Corps volunteer, he knows we don't often get too much good intellectually challenging reading material out in the field.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> For those of you who have asked what you can send me in a package, here is a list of things I would like for my work as well as a few comfort items for good measure ;) Oddly enough I can't find these items here (except the books of course)...</div><ul><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Duct Tape</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Zip Lock Bags (sandwich size)</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Any books in Spanish (Katie and I are starting a public library)</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Sharpies (fine tip – any colors but black is always king)</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Frisbees</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">US Candy Bars (cus I miss them)</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Peanut Butter</div></li><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Dodge balls</div></li></ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In case you need my address again, it is:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Chris Huey</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Pasaje YoYo Flores 180</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Cutevo, Cajamarca</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Peru</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> That should do it. I am putting together a youth development activities kit that will allow me to do pretty much any team-builder or leadership game upon request. I hope to incorporate non-formal education in the youth center as well.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Now onto the main point of this post – the food.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Before getting into my newfound love for Peruvian food I need to point out that I do not eat as the majority of Peruvian families (and by extension, my colleagues in the field) do. The typical lunch of a Peruvian living here in the sierra consists of boiled or fried potatoes, rice, and a small portion of meat (usually chicken and sometimes beef or pork). This is due to the extreme poverty (potatoes and rice being very cheap and filling), but I am still unsure as to why the cheap vegetables are not popular (maybe just a cultural aversion). This leads to a very carbohydrate heavy and nutrient poor diet for the majority of the sierran population. I am currently working with the ministry of health in a campaign to educate people about the importance and benefit of a nutritionally diverse diet.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Because of this reality, many Peace Corps volunteers must take multi-vitamins and travel to nearby cities to buy vegetables to supplement their diets. I have the great fortune to live with a very progressive family that understands the value of eating vegetables. More than that, I am lucky to live with the best chef in the city (this is indisputable) who enjoys experimenting with any new foods she can get her hands on. I have been compiling photos of my meals (hence the long time since a post) to show you all what some famous – and delicious – Peruvian dishes are. It took me a little longer than I expected because I kept forgetting to take the pictures when the food was set down in front of me. I became so excited at meal time that often the camera would sit on the table forgotten while I dug into the food with the fervor of a rabid wolverine.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> First, allow me to educate you on one of the Peruvian staples you might be familiar with: the potato. Experts can actually trace the origins of all potatoes to the Andes mountains – having only been introduced outside this region a mere four centuries ago. According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science “over 99% of all cultivated potatoes worldwide are descendants of a subspecies indigenous to south-central Chile.” This important food was first domesticated in Peru between 3000 BC and 2000 BC and has always been the principle carbohydrate source in the area (from the Incans to the Spanish to the modern Peruvian). One can expect that the folks living in the birth place of the potato have perfected its culinary preparation and, indeed, the things that my host mother can do with a potato are magical – for lack of a better word.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Perhaps on of the most typical and famous potato dishes here is Peru is one called papa a la huancaína. This is an appetizer of lettuce, boiled potatoes, and a thick cheesy ají chili sauce – garnished with olives and hard boiled egg slices. This was one of the first dishes I tried upon arriving in Peru and was my first step in a long discovery of great food. While this is a really good dish, for me nothing beats a Peruvian sweet potato (called camote), boiled and served plain... sooo good.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TMtXSgXB_UI/AAAAAAAAAJE/ouG5iHGc1UQ/s1600/P1000756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TMtXSgXB_UI/AAAAAAAAAJE/ouG5iHGc1UQ/s320/P1000756.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Camote is often served with yucca as a side to the delicious food known as ceviche. Ask anyone here who invented the popular seafood dish and they will proudly insist that it is Peruvian. While there is some argument as to whether this is true, archaeological records show that raw fish cooked only with citrus juice (the basis for ceviche) was eaten by the Moche civilization of Northern Peru as far back as 2000 years ago. This is an amazing, probably my new favorite, plate consisting of onion, ají chilies, lime juice, and white fish... anything else is overkill – or so I am told by the ceviche cooks. Since arriving here, ceviche has become my seafood of choice – winning out over even the best sushi I have tasted.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TMtTImWGvRI/AAAAAAAAAI4/3LunIEIwVc0/s1600/P1010424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TMtTImWGvRI/AAAAAAAAAI4/3LunIEIwVc0/s320/P1010424.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> In general, lunch is the biggest meal of the day (which is healthier than a huge meal before bed). I had to acclimate myself to the huge afternoon meal that usually consists of a large soup, plate of food, and dessert. Usually I have to lay down after trying, and often failing, to fit all that wonderful food into my stomach. I absolutely have a better understanding of the siestas of Mexico and often jealously wish we could sleep in the afternoons here as well. The soups are... well, super (yeah, I said it). They always consist of a real slow cooked chicken or beef stock packed with veggies, meats, and pastas and rices. It is often that I am almost full just after the great soup! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TMtUbz-383I/AAAAAAAAAI8/P9oqjXvhpP4/s1600/P1010426.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TMtUbz-383I/AAAAAAAAAI8/P9oqjXvhpP4/s320/P1010426.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> The real magic here is in the local fresh food supply, lacking long travel times, tons of pesticide, or any genetic modification. I think I can count the number of times I have eaten a packaged food item in my house on one hand. I could never have said that in the US. I have a much greater appreciation for the health and flavor benefits of this kind of food chain. Sure, the variety is lacking in comparison to the United States, but the whole lifestyle is more sustainable, healthy, and fresh – something we North Americans lost a long time ago.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TMtVG7RddvI/AAAAAAAAAJA/6WdbgoLewBk/s1600/P1010449.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TMtVG7RddvI/AAAAAAAAAJA/6WdbgoLewBk/s320/P1010449.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> Also, food hold strong sway within the Peruvian culture. The poor may not have much but what they do have is access to cheap food staples such as rice and potatoes. What they can do with just a few simple ingredients is often nothing short of miraculous and a gift of food is always the first thing to greet a guest – be they family or stranger. It is considered a grave insult to not eat everything offered and this is not made easy by the fact that the food is plentiful and often followed up with seconds (I challenge anyone to come out here and try and finish a campo meal and walk upright immediately afterwards... I posit that it cannot be done).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> And of course as good as the food is, that does not mean I do not miss my own comfort foods from home. I would give almost anything for something with cheddar cheese on it. I cannot say I am really all that thrilled with the cheese selections here – no matter how fresh and local they may be. I can't help but dream about a Anthony's pepperoni pizza with extra cheese every once in a while. Luckily my cravings almost always pass when I arrive home from work to the smells of my <span lang="es-PE">madre's fantastic cooking.</span></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-17462095277193055062010-10-05T11:07:00.000-07:002010-10-05T11:07:37.210-07:00Peace Corps: The Hardest Job You'll Ever LoveFear not loyal tax-payer! &nbsp;You are most certainly getting your money's worth in me. &nbsp;I find it only slightly ironic that it is in my volunteer job that I find myself working harder, being more dedicated, and feeling more passionate in my efforts than ever before in my life. &nbsp;I have been so busy that I have mixed up a few meetings, dedicated myself&nbsp;foolhardily to a few too many projects, and mistaken a few of my socios (counterparts) for others. &nbsp;But despite these speed bumps, my work continues to soldier on at a lightning pace. &nbsp;So for you're benefit, to make you feel better about your hard earned cash funding my trip to Peru, I will detail some of my work here.<br /><br />First of all, I have been working on my community diagnostic. This alone has taken up a good amount of my time because I have to translate the spanish of the reports I receive from the Hospital, Health Center, Municipality, and professors into usable data. &nbsp;Of course, this means that I am getting plenty of spanish practice. &nbsp;I have been told by my family that I have&nbsp;noticeably improved since arriving - although I have to admit I don't feel the same way. &nbsp;I have been using spare moments to make flash cards of new vocabulary and work through my advanced spanish text book I was given during training.<br /><br />Also I have been travelling to the local caserios (small rural communities with few resources) around Cutervo to learn the reality of life for the majority of people living here. &nbsp;I have also done charlas about a ton of topics like health, environment, leadership, self-esteem, and english classes. &nbsp;My main socios for these trips have been Victor Medina (director of the Association for Cutervo Youth), Professor Oscar Castillo (english professor at Colegio Casanova), and Professor Rodolfo Diaz (professor at Colegio Cristo Rey). &nbsp;So far I have given charlas at two schools here in the city, at a catholic church youth group, and in two different rural communities (Chiguirip and La Conga). &nbsp;To date I have given charlas to close to 750 children.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TKtoFAMj-aI/AAAAAAAAAIw/9Bnjv1CbBuY/s1600/P1010315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TKtoFAMj-aI/AAAAAAAAAIw/9Bnjv1CbBuY/s320/P1010315.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can't leave town without gas!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TKtmpfmtEjI/AAAAAAAAAIo/k8M9QGvnW8Y/s1600/P1010324.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TKtmpfmtEjI/AAAAAAAAAIo/k8M9QGvnW8Y/s320/P1010324.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charla on self-esteem in Chiguirip, Chota, Cajamarca</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TKtnDDfVGbI/AAAAAAAAAIs/7xkH4eIOMCA/s1600/P1010332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TKtnDDfVGbI/AAAAAAAAAIs/7xkH4eIOMCA/s320/P1010332.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doing a team-builder in Chiguirip, Chota, Cajamarca</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />With DISA (the health center in charge of all the health posts in the province) I have been planning some larger projects. &nbsp;On October 6th-8th, we will be travelling to the district of Querocotillo in the north in order to&nbsp;ascertain the effectiveness of the health posts there. &nbsp;I will have the opportunity to talk with health professionals throughout the province about the strengths and&nbsp;weaknesses they face working with the area's youth. &nbsp;We are also going to have a multi-sectorial meeting on the 11th to discuss the planning of a youth center. &nbsp;At this facility we hope to give children a place to go after school (other than the streets) where they can get help with homework, be involved in planned activities and field trips, and have access to a whole range of educational opportunities and professional help (from police, psychologists, doctors, educators, and social workers). &nbsp;I am working on a similar project for a community out in the campo that is central enough for a few other communities to utilize. &nbsp;I hope to give charlas in both as well as help with administrative work.<br /><br />On the 15th, I am working with Victor and two other volunteers close by to head to the community of Palo Solo to give a presentation of ourselves and a demonstration of our work. &nbsp;We will give small charlas over topics of healthy living, leadership, and self-esteem for a group of 200 people from about 7 different communities.<br /><br />Last but certainly not least, I have been making friends, hanging out with the family, and enjoying the culture. &nbsp;It is still taking a lot of work simply to feel like a part of the community but I definitely feel like part of my family already. &nbsp;Local elections were held this weekend and the whole family was finally under the same roof long enough for us to enjoy each other's company. &nbsp;My brother Kike is getting a degree in human rights (so we have a lot to talk about) and my sister Madoli is getting her degree in tourism and we spent a couple hours talking in english and studying vocab together. &nbsp;It was a bit sad to see them go but I will be heading through their city on my way back for my early IST (in service training) in two months.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TKtfJ6nyAfI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/X1CygJJSbtE/s1600/P1010357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TKtfJ6nyAfI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/X1CygJJSbtE/s320/P1010357.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">From Left to Right: Lilia, Madoli, Kike, Andrea, Jimena, and Raul</span></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-42558587443052341462010-09-22T15:14:00.000-07:002010-09-22T15:14:31.068-07:00When the goin' gets tough...So imagine giving a presentation about sex and STDs to a group of 16 years olds when you realize that they seem to already know everything you came to teach them, nay, they know more than you do on the subject. &nbsp;Combine that horror with the fact that you have rolled a condom halfway down your finger only to realize that you don't have the proper vocabulary to describe what you are doing or why you are doing it. &nbsp;To top it all off you look down and realize you aren't wearing any pants!!!<br /><br />Well, all or part of the scenario above happened to me today during my class on sex education. &nbsp;At first I was really worried about giving a charla (talk) on sex to a group of catholic students. &nbsp;I worried that their parents would be furious when they found out I was teaching them about condoms and whatnot but my counter part assured me that there was nothing to worry about. &nbsp;He also told me that they were well versed in what sex was and I would not have to give them a rudimentary, and frankly&nbsp;embarrassing, description of the mechanics of how sex works - I'm 27 and I still haven't figured it out!<br /><br />So I showed up with a set of cue cards thinking, "just stick to the cards and all will be fine." &nbsp;Well I didn't have time to rehears the cards. &nbsp;I worried about them laughing at the sex parts... but I was wrong. &nbsp;What they found hilarious was my dismal attempt at pronouncing medical terms and my occasional desperate glance at the teacher for help. &nbsp;They first uncovered my charade when I asked them if they knew what an STD is - to which they all shouted out in unison the meaning of the letters and a brief but accurate description. <br />"Wow!" I said, "You guys are really smart!"<br />"So who can name a few for me?"<br /><br />The answers came flying back at me as if they were in a game show in a race for time. &nbsp;I realized I was screwed when I didn't know what almost any of them were. &nbsp;I had to turn to the professor, hoping he would give me an answer like "that is just the term here for genital herpes." &nbsp;Instead he started explaining the symptoms and I realized how deep I had gotten myself. &nbsp;I nodded in agreement as if what he was saying was being understood while really my mind was screaming at me to run, flee, find shelter, or cower in a corner.<br /><br />Perhaps the most&nbsp;embarrassing&nbsp;part for me was when I was trying to show them how to use a condom (most of them had never even seen one and were not sure what it was really for). &nbsp;I realized I could explain to check the expiration date, check for air to make sure the package was sealed, how to open it... then I didn't have the vocabulary to finish. &nbsp;How do you say "make sure there is a&nbsp;reservoir of space at the end for the semen then roll the condom down the penis"? &nbsp;I had to resort to sort of grunting, pointing, and repeating the words "do it like this" - which is not a very easy task in itself while trying to roll it down your finger....<br /><br />Eventually I finished my charla and even did an activity to explain how HIV works and what the difference is between it and AIDS. &nbsp;They seemed to enjoy themselves, and got a lot of giggles in at well. I am sure my foolishness was not as bad as it felt and the exuberant goodbye was more than enough to lift my spirits.<br /><br />But if you are interested in seeing how it all played out, I saw a couple boys in back filming the whole thing on their cameras - so I may be coming to an internet near you...<br /><br />I should also point out that I had the opportunity to get my hands dirty during our regional meeting in Chota. &nbsp;We volunteered to help a health center plant a garden of spinach and then I watched as they gave them a charla on the benefits of growing their own food to meeting nutritional gaps (they lack a lot of nutrients and most children in the campo are&nbsp;malnourished). &nbsp;Below are some photos of how it went!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TJp-nx5bkyI/AAAAAAAAAIA/9_QJgxzjRfU/s1600/P1010244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TJp_LHCiUAI/AAAAAAAAAII/pOQeEJtHqVU/s1600/P1010248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TJp_LHCiUAI/AAAAAAAAAII/pOQeEJtHqVU/s320/P1010248.JPG" /></a><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TJp-nx5bkyI/AAAAAAAAAIA/9_QJgxzjRfU/s320/P1010244.JPG" /></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-24709323806894988082010-09-14T14:45:00.000-07:002010-09-14T14:45:56.115-07:00The Real DealOften I try not to think of the differences between my new home and my old. This is perhaps a survival technique as it allows me to avoid much of the disorientation and home-sickness which accompanies the culture shock of moving to a new environment. I realize that, while protecting myself from these consequences of admitting my new surroundings, it also prevents me from appreciating those new surroundings – and perhaps lessens the very experience of being in Peru. I realize that I have been writing my blogs more in the manner of a visitor than a volunteer living here and I hope to give you all a better visual of what my experience actually is.<br /><br /><br />I make it sound in my blogs and emails as if becoming integrated here has been an easy task for me. In fact I must constantly pep-talk myself to even work up the motivation to walk out the door of my host home. It is exhausting trying to understand and be understood in a place where I a) barely speak the language, b) must constantly be observant of the local customs so as not to offend, and c) have to explain almost everything about myself to everyone I meet – often repeating the same things to the same people every day. Sometimes, I am very tempted to stay in my room and just watch movies on my laptop to escape the awkwardness of integration.<br /><br />Luckily for me, I have the amazing fortune of living with a very progressive, loving, and tight-nit host family who have adopted me into their home and lives without even knowing me. My family here has been my rock upon which all work here seems not only possible but inevitably successful. My father Raul is a professor of communication and has chosen to focus his career on traveling between the small rural farming communities to ensure that even the children there receive an education. He is faced with a hard task because the parents in those communities value their children's labor over their education and he must constantly battle with them to provide those children with the best of possible futures. Raul has been invaluable to me as a counterpart here in Cutervo. On several different occasions he has shown me around the community and introduced me to some of the most influential people within the development system (health posts, schools, police, priests, and municipality officials).<br /><br />My mother, Lilia, is a professor at a pedagogical college right next to our home. She has taken me in as one of her own and shows a great deal of concern for my safety, integration, and professional success. She is an amazing cook (in fact, the lower level of the house is a restaurant). When she heard that I like to cook she excitedly starting making plans for us to teach each other recipes and I have been a dedicated student ever since. Often times, after dinner, we sit around at the table for a hour or more talking about everything from philosophy and religion to popular culture. These kinds of conversations have gone a long way in keeping me sane and happy here - I know that many volunteers often go a little bit stir crazy when faced with the reality that conversations often don't go in any greater depth than current local gossip.<br /><br />My uncle, Willy Castro, is – you guessed it – a professor of history and an avid bird watcher. He has been my best professional counterpart by far. He began by setting me up with a slot in his environmental sustainability and eco-tourism conference for youth. I had the opportunity to speak to 150 youth from various colegios (secondary schools) in Cutervo about their habits and attitudes towards trash and how to change those habits. I set up a sign up sheet for anyone interested in being in a youth-leader group focusing on environment issues and got over 80 email addresses. I hope to take this group out to the rural areas and give workshops, skits, and activities to the youth out there. Willy has also set me up with a camping trip every weekend to a different rural area to see the realities of the poverty stricken majority of Peru. It is hard coming to terms with the dichotomy of being in an area so beautiful as to warrant the name of paradise and yet observe the local population literally struggle to survive – often on nothing more than rice and sugar.<br /><br />As you can guess, mine is not your average Peruvian family. As my host father points out, in Peru there is not a very distinguished middle class, you are either elite and rich or starving without resources. With better-than-average food, access to internet, constant potable running water, 24 hour electricity, and a network of motivated and ambitious counterparts, I do not live the quintessential Peace Corps experience that I imagined I would. And while I often feel guilty that I am living in such a comfortable environment, I must remind myself that I am not here on a personal development mission seeking inner-perspective on the realities of life. I am here to help people less fortunate than I have been, not to share in their suffering. I am lucky to be connected in such an intimate way to the elite of Cutervo because, through them, I have access to the power, influence, and resources necessary to bring about some changes that are so obviously needed.<br /><br />Right now I am feeling very confident that together with my counterparts, we can provide a catalyst for sustainable positive change in the lives of youth within and around Cutervo. With each meeting we are gathering more interested community leaders into our multi-sectorial group called the “Civic Committee to Favor Cutervian Adolescents and Youth”. We are going to spend the first three months garnering support, carrying out a full community diagnostic, presenting those findings to the community, asking for suggestions of citizens, and waiting for the current election cycle to finish. After that, we will begin planning and implementing projects based on the diagnostic and community ideas. We are hoping to focus on at-risk-youth in the areas of drug/alcohol abuse, prostitution, teen pregnancy, and crime.<br /><br />As my own personal side project, I would like to set up a group of youth leaders that are trained to start, plan, and lead their own groups (focusing on giving educational workshops to the rural youth). I believe that the important thing here is less about what topic they choose to focus on (ie: life skills, education, job skills, leadership, self-esteem, environment...etc) and more about building social capital. I believe that building those networks of empowered youth and allowing them to find connections with others is what will create a system for sustainable long-term change. Yes I am idealistic – but change always begins with the dreamers. I can only hope the enthusiasm of myself and my counterparts can rub off on enough people to get things started in a big way.<br /><br />Now all I have to do is learn Spanish!... Just Kidding ;)Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-45827184495694524582010-09-04T15:57:00.000-07:002010-09-04T15:57:57.248-07:00Feelin' the Love in CajamazingIt doesn't get much better than this. I have a host family that is very supportive, a great living environment, community counterparts who are excited and actively working with me, and a city full of youth eager to get started.<br /><br />I have only been here for a week and a half and I have already done so much. While setting up my room and buying the things I need to make it feel like home, I decided I could better motivate myself to gather and organize my community diagnostic information if I turned my walls into a decorated excel sheet of sorts. Every time I learn something new about my community I write it on a note card and stick it to the wall under its appropriate heading. It helped me decorate my very bare walls. I also bought a portable fabric closet and posted up photos of friends and family to make it feel more like home.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILHQS3nknI/AAAAAAAAAGs/W3740ROPCz8/s1600/P1010119.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILHQS3nknI/AAAAAAAAAGs/W3740ROPCz8/s320/P1010119.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILHnFW81jI/AAAAAAAAAG0/_biEopXGBpA/s1600/P1010120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILHnFW81jI/AAAAAAAAAG0/_biEopXGBpA/s320/P1010120.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILJUdgp-fI/AAAAAAAAAG8/EBbZRoi2Z4g/s1600/Imagen+094.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILJUdgp-fI/AAAAAAAAAG8/EBbZRoi2Z4g/s320/Imagen+094.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging with the locals.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I have a host uncle names Willy Castro... how cool of a name is that? He is a historian/biologist/professor here in Cutervo and is well known in and around town. While talking over dinner one night he learned about how much I love camping, hiking, and the outdoors and asked me to join him on a camping trip out to a small farming community in the mountains named San Pedro. I jumped at the opportunity and was not disappointed. I saw some amazingly gorgeous views, met some really generous and friendly people, and drank a good portion of the local rum (called ayunque). It is always an eye opener to see the difference between how people in the cities live from those in the surrounding country side. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />&nbsp;</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILKnSRgwyI/AAAAAAAAAHU/RGAGvSrrKM8/s1600/P1010138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILKnSRgwyI/AAAAAAAAAHU/RGAGvSrrKM8/s320/P1010138.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These very nice people may not have much, but what they<br />do have, they are more than happy (insist even) in sharing.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">While out on that trip, I was telling Willy about an idea I had to start an environmental sustainability youth group that we can train as promotors to go around education others. In this group we can do workshops, movie and discussion nights, camping trips, and trips to the countryside to give classes on the environment. He sounded interested in the idea and then invited me to fill a 30 minute spot in his upcoming environment and eco-tourism conference later in the week. I was a little (read a lot) nervous after hearing that over 150 youth would be in attendance and experts from England, New Zealand, and Spain would also be giving talks on their areas of interest.</div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILKC0G1VmI/AAAAAAAAAHM/GR7aFikxhaA/s1600/P1010127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILKC0G1VmI/AAAAAAAAAHM/GR7aFikxhaA/s320/P1010127.jpg" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILJxcDUDqI/AAAAAAAAAHE/PlwrHkKNNto/s1600/P1010141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILJxcDUDqI/AAAAAAAAAHE/PlwrHkKNNto/s320/P1010141.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">San Pedro</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Never-the-less, I put together a segment about the need for changing attitudes and behavior about trash in Cutervo. The mountains around the city are literally covered in trash and it is very depressing – especially given the abundance of natural beauty being ruined in the area. The kids seemed to like my presentation and lined up afterwards to ask some very insightful questions and give some ingenious solutions. They also filled my sign up list for starting a youth group! I will be asking the municipality for space and materials and then begin the process of planning and contacting all of the youth. (Photos of the conference). I also plan on doing every step with at least two counterparts from the community in the hope that the group is sustainable after I leave.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILNgjIr1fI/AAAAAAAAAHw/KOMXS7hCBt8/s1600/P1010189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILNgjIr1fI/AAAAAAAAAHw/KOMXS7hCBt8/s320/P1010189.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One rarely gets to tell 150 kids what to do all at once. <br />PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND SMILE FOR THE CAMERA!</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILNLzJpfjI/AAAAAAAAAHo/nN6OQI58jM0/s1600/P1010175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILNLzJpfjI/AAAAAAAAAHo/nN6OQI58jM0/s320/P1010175.JPG" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILN6gHkVNI/AAAAAAAAAH4/-7BTG61-Nr4/s1600/P1010180.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TILN6gHkVNI/AAAAAAAAAH4/-7BTG61-Nr4/s320/P1010180.JPG" /></a></div><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I was put in contact with a professor who also helps run one of the local radio stations, Radio Cutervo. He interviewed me about my experience, motivations for volunteering, what Cuerpo de Paz is, and what my goals are for my two years here. I am psyched about that interview because now people are beginning to recognize me and approach me with ideas for projects. One young man, Christian, came up to me and asked me if I would be interested in working with an already existing youth group at his school! Also, I have begun working with a Catholic youth group focusing on capacity building for young people in Cutervo. I gave a charla (small informal workshop) on self-esteem and we played a few games along that theme. I love my job.</div>Needless to say, I have been keeping busy. This week I will be meeting with as many city and organization leaders as possible and then we will plan that televised conference I keep telling you all about. I am almost done with the presentation for that as well.<br /><br />Kicking butt in Cutervo, Cajamarca, Peru,<br /><br />This is Chris Huey (Cris Way as they pronounce it here) signing off.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-32610893414641139232010-08-26T13:33:00.000-07:002010-09-01T13:50:20.553-07:00So it's officialas of Friday, August 20th, 2010 I am now a Peace Corps Volunteer (as opposed to my previous status of 'trainee'). We all had to pack up and be at the center by 8am to go over some logistics and pick up our mosquito nets (no joke – they made us all grab one). We were given an hour lunch to spend with our families but since it takes 20 mins to get to and from my house I said my goodbyes the night before – and made them dinner as a thank you.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TH64yq4n2yI/AAAAAAAAAF8/Xbh_LFpcX9c/s1600/P1010100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TH64yq4n2yI/AAAAAAAAAF8/Xbh_LFpcX9c/s320/P1010100.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My sad last night with the Chacrasana family.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />We all packed into two big buses and headed to the U.S. Embassy in central Lima for a swearing in ceremony. The whole thing started with us singing the national anthems of both Peru and the US. I have to admit it was a little awkward when neither group could properly sing the other's anthem – not that we did our own any justice. The ceremony was short and sweet with five minute speeches from a trainee, host family father, business representative of the Embassy, and our program directors. We were called up to the stage to take an oath of allegiance to the US government (some people were a bit put off by the whole “defend against all enemies foreign and domestic bit” and I can't blame them we are called the Peace Corps for goodness sake). We finished by taking a group photo and gorging ourselves on the awesome snacks provided.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TH652cXufNI/AAAAAAAAAGE/15n-C3ckSeM/s1600/P1010113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TH652cXufNI/AAAAAAAAAGE/15n-C3ckSeM/s320/P1010113.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swearing in Ceremony at the Embassy.&nbsp; I am with two of our doctors here.. very cool people.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TH67_pUdH3I/AAAAAAAAAGU/PLr66hhzQe8/s1600/P1010065.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TH67_pUdH3I/AAAAAAAAAGU/PLr66hhzQe8/s320/P1010065.jpg" /></a><br />That was it. We headed back to the hostel in Lima and were left to our own devices at that point. Most of us went and had US style meals. I went with a huge group to TGI Fridays and had Fajitas and a Margarita – and paid the same amount as I would in the US for it. I won't be doing that again. Sure the food was good but when you were making only 8 Soles a day (about $2.50) it is hard to justify spending that much. I am making a little bit more now (about 11 bucks a day) but I also have to pay rent, food, transportation...etc. Since I live in a larger city where the cost of living is more, that leaves me with little breathing room as far as spending money goes. I expect to learn and grow a lot for it. Here is the only scary thing – my school debt will be growing rapidly while I am here.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TH665ExLtAI/AAAAAAAAAGM/-JT-NfzkoJ0/s1600/P1010087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TH665ExLtAI/AAAAAAAAAGM/-JT-NfzkoJ0/s320/P1010087.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Found some colorado license plates in a karaoke bar... <br />yes, we made our signs backwards...</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br />After three days of travel and shopping for things I will need I have finally arrived back in Cutervo. My family picked me up at the corner I was dropped off on and showed me to my room. They did a lot of work while I was gone by adding another light, fixing outlets, giving me some more furniture, and moving their daughter's personal items out (yes I am the jerk that took her room and I feel awful about it). Then we sat and joked around about Peruvian transportation for a while before bed.<br /><br />While I have heard a lot of volunteers say they arrived at site and said “now what?” I woke up this morning feeling inundated with things to do. I need to buy items for my room (like a dresser and lamps), finish editing my Human Trafficking paper (A.K.A. the never ending paper), write blogs and emails, unpack and set up my room, finish my power point for our televised conference coming up soon, and begin the long process of gathering, organizing, and recording the information for our three month community diagnostic. This is good, I like to stay busy and would not be comfortable if I were just sitting around – of course even then I have spanish to study, guitar to practice, books to read, exercise to do, and people to meet.<br /><br />If you are still with me here is the boring logistical part of the blog. I have a cell phone that anyone can contact me on. It is free for me to receive calls but I assume that means you will be paying quite a bit. Here is the formula for calling me:<br /><br />011 + 51 + 76 + 970913716<br /><br />We are discussing getting internet in the house, but until that happens I will have to go to a local internet cafe to check emails and skype with people. This means we will have to decide by email or phone when to skype. I am one hour ahead of those of you in Colorado.<br />Also, here is my new address so I can receive mail and packages. The original address you all have for Lima will make it so I have to either wait two more weeks or, if it is a larger package, physically go down to Lima to pick it up... which will only happen about 3 times in my two years.<br /><br />Chris Huey<br />Pasaje Yoyo Flores 180<br />Cutervo, Cajamarca, Peru<br /><br />I am excited to get started with my work here. And I am lucky that my community partners seem excited as well. I am still not sure exactly what I will be doing but I know that the community diagnostic combined with just meeting and talking with people will turn up quite a few opportunities for me to stay busy and, with a little luck, help someone.<br /><br />As always, I miss you all. I expect to go through a hump by month two, when I realize what I got myself into ;) Please send me your photos and emails about your lives.<br /><br /><br />PS - I will edit with pictures when I get a better internet connection...Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-24535174654797521652010-08-15T18:21:00.000-07:002010-08-15T18:21:53.360-07:00My New Home: Cutervo, Cajamarca, Perú<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br /></span></span><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Hello everyone!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">First of all, I want to thank all of you that sent me those wonderful birthday wishes. I also received calls from all of my training buddies and my host family opened up a nice bottle of wine for me during lunch to celebrate. Because of all that I was able to avoid the home-sickness that inevitably accompanies a birthday abroad.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Also, many of you may have already read this post in an email I sent but I got a lot of errors because your email addresses would not receive such a large file. &nbsp;I am still trying to work out the kinks of how to best communicate with everyone.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I am just now finishing up my site visit to Cutervo, Cajamarca, Peru... they call it Cajamazing for a reason. There are rolling green hills for miles punctuated by high jagged mountains. Honestly, none of my photos come near doing it justice so I guess you will have to make a trip out to visit me to see what I mean.</div><div style="margin-top: 0.08in;"><i></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TGhIencqamI/AAAAAAAAAFM/TMpraiF-JuI/s1600/P1010043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TGhIencqamI/AAAAAAAAAFM/TMpraiF-JuI/s320/P1010043.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cutervo, Cajamarca, Perú</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TGg_czM44II/AAAAAAAAAFE/dv8B1qmSZU8/s1600/P1010040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TGg_czM44II/AAAAAAAAAFE/dv8B1qmSZU8/s320/P1010040.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Incan ruins on the mountain overlooking Cutervo</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Cutervo is a provincial capital with a population of &nbsp;36,000 people. I asked for a larger site so I could work on a project for my masters degree (I would like to focus on the exploited child labor problem in the cities of Cajamarca). I will be spending the first three months doing a community diagnostic which will cover everything from religion and politics to food and annual festivals. Together with my local counterparts, we will be focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of current youth development efforts in the city and surrounding countryside.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It looks like I have my work cut out for me because when I met my first counterpart (called a socio comunitario) she informed me that the city has planned a conference for me and my socios to attend which will be covered by the local reporters, tv station, and radio station. I need to get up to speed on my spanish and present a powerpoint about my purpose, goals, and resume. No pressure there! I was able to sit down with that socio, a professor at a women's pedagogical college and also my new host mom, and we hammered out a solid plan for the first three months. We will be holding community meetings to examine the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of Cutervo. We will also have several meetings with the leaders of the community to plan a large scale youth program, using the space provided by the catholic church, and spanning the city limits and surrounding 81 farming communities. They have made it clear that they are serious about doing it, with or without me, as a multi-sectorial effort (police, municipality, schools, church, peace corps, and health centers). I am definitely in over my head but I am excited to get started.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As for my family and living arrangements, I definitely got the cream of the crop. I am living in a very modern house with hot running water, gas, electricity, washing machine, cable, and internet (coming soon). My family owns a restaurant, which takes up half of the first floor and has a cool bull fighting theme (my host brother is a matador – how cool is that!?) Cutervo is all about the bull fighting. I can't stress enough how fat I will probably get living here. The food is amazing and the afternoon meal is huge! I am sure all the walking I will be doing between the farming communities will help though.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I will be living with my two younger host siblings (13 and 15 year old girls) and the mom named Lilia (also my socio). The father, who is very excited about me being here, works as a professor in the farming communities and will be here on the weekends. The other two siblings (19 year old boy and 20 year old girl) live in the big city 10 hours away to attend university. I have already been introduced to a lot of the extended family and they seems to hold a pretty high place of esteem here in Cutervo – the uncle is a scholar who literally wrote the book on Cutervo (should be useful while writing my community diagnostic). They are all amazing and extremely welcoming. It is easy for me to see myself living with them for the next two years.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TGhcI_pe9mI/AAAAAAAAAFU/hYUf1-SGvHY/s1600/P1000993.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TGhcI_pe9mI/AAAAAAAAAFU/hYUf1-SGvHY/s320/P1000993.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plaza de Armas, Cutervo</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TGhofqgvfLI/AAAAAAAAAFc/3_miXfh-Oek/s1600/P1010005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TGhofqgvfLI/AAAAAAAAAFc/3_miXfh-Oek/s320/P1010005.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Campesinos waiting for monthly government stipend<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; font-style: normal;"><br /></span></span></i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TGh1k0IU6AI/AAAAAAAAAFk/C3p36tsb29E/s1600/P1010056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TGh1k0IU6AI/AAAAAAAAAFk/C3p36tsb29E/s320/P1010056.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-top: 0.08in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Mi Familia Anfitriona - left to right: Ximena, Raul, Madoli, Kike</i></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I have been told that Cutervo is a very safe city and although I attract a lot of attention being the only gringo in town I should be perfectly safe traveling around alone. Also, my spanish has improved to a point where I can communicate easily with strangers – which makes traveling in a new country much safer.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">After a bunch of meetings and tours of the town I had the opportunity to climb the largest mountain with my host brother. It took us two hours to get the top and it was quite a trek but it was completely worth it. On our way up I saw white sand pits (made me forget I was on a mountain far from the ocean for a second) and we came across this funny looking rock where my brother started throwing rocks and yelling at it. He explained that the rock is believed to be a witch (called la vieja) and you need to throw a rock at her for each thing you are lacking in your household – because its her fault. I yelled at her for taking my reeses peanut butter cups...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Apparently it used to look a lot more like an old woman and a lot less like a random boulder... And you would see the photos if the internet connection was better.... *sigh*</div><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So that is what I have been up to. I have to start my return trip to Lima today (26 hours in total) and then I will be officially sworn in as a volunteer. Then I have to head back! I wish I could just stay here since everything is ready to go. The plus side is that I will get to see my friends from training one last time. I am sure we will end up spending most of our time looking at photos and swapping stories. I wish I could share everything that has happened here but I just don't have the space or time. However, I will have access to the internet every night when I get back and will keep my skype up and running!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I miss you all so much. Even though everything here is going great it doesn't make it any easier that I am away from the ones I love. I definitely have moments where I realize what I am about to do and freak out a little bit... a lotta bit. I love hearing from all of you so please write emails and send photos of what is going on back in the States.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I hope all is well in your lives.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Chris</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Contacting me</span> – I have a cell phone now! I can receive calls from you all for free (its on your dime) but I cannot call out cheaply. My current number is going to change because it was programmed for Lima but I will be sure to give it out to all of you when it does.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Sending packages</span> – I will not be at the address you currently have for Lima. I will send you all my new contact information after I get back here to Cutervo.</div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-84250644149424685352010-07-28T16:00:00.000-07:002010-07-28T16:00:51.632-07:00Field Based Training: Cajamarca<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />Im Back! &nbsp;I haven't posted in a while because there is not much to say about training other than "I get up at 7, attend technical and language classes, and go to bed around 10."<br /><br />The monotony finally broke when we headed to our Field Based Training. &nbsp;My group headed to Cajamarca - the northern mountains of Peru. &nbsp;There we travelled to various sites to see where current volunteers live and what kind of work they are doing. &nbsp;We went everywhere from a huge district capital (Cajamarca City), to medium&nbsp;provincial&nbsp;capitals (Cajabamba and San Marcos), and a couple of small towns (La Grama and Cauday).<br /><br />In each we had the opportunity to plan and teach classes to all kinds of different schools with lots of different ages and mixes of kids. &nbsp;We taught classes on healthy lifestyles, leadership, community involvement, and job skills. &nbsp;We also watched current volunteers give classes to students. &nbsp;One of my favorites was a business class on&nbsp;entrepreneurial&nbsp;endeavors where the volunteers gave an inspiring and active talk about how to be creative and start your own business. &nbsp;At one point the volunteer asked the class what would happen if they didn't show up for all the classes - in which he then ripped up a certificate of completion and threw it out at them... the class loved it.<br /><br />My group of four gave several&nbsp;presentations&nbsp;(charlas) to lots of different classes. &nbsp;I felt most of them were very successful. &nbsp;One of the greatest things we learned was that things will rarely turn out how they were described to us or planned. &nbsp;At one point we were told we would have 15 older students to do a leadership charla with. &nbsp;It turned out to be 30 much younger kids and we had to change almost everything on the fly to make it work. &nbsp;It was a bit of an adrenaline rush and gave me a lot of confidence in our abilities.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFA1kaCS0qI/AAAAAAAAAEM/q2a3ahfCc1Q/s1600/P1000743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFA1kaCS0qI/AAAAAAAAAEM/q2a3ahfCc1Q/s320/P1000743.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing the Human Knot in San Marcos</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TE-hNBNstPI/AAAAAAAAAEE/GALIwXN-S7k/s1600/P1000722.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TE-hNBNstPI/AAAAAAAAAEE/GALIwXN-S7k/s320/P1000722.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teaching English in Cajamarca<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFB6N0BFFxI/AAAAAAAAAEs/a3pUfEzJJxE/s1600/P1000815.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFB6N0BFFxI/AAAAAAAAAEs/a3pUfEzJJxE/s320/P1000815.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Popularity Abounds</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Some of these communities have never seen so many gringos in one spot and they get a bit crazy. &nbsp;At one site they literally would not let us leave until we had put our autograph in all their notebooks. &nbsp;At lots of other sites I found myself posing in a lot of photos with complete strangers. &nbsp;And the kids love my arm hair oddly enough. &nbsp;One time I was trying to talk to one of the teachers and looked down to find two kids, one on each arm, mesmerized by petting me. &nbsp;I have been asked by a couple of adults if they can touch it too... wild. &nbsp;At least I know I can make a quick buck if things get tough.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I sincerely hope my site ends up being in the mountains. &nbsp;I am just a mountain kinda guy and I love cold weather... that and anyone who has ever seen a picture of Machu Picchu can understand my wish to live there. &nbsp;Here are some photos of Cajamarca:</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFBYV0clyFI/AAAAAAAAAEc/kqlRJGSWySc/s1600/P1000715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFBYV0clyFI/AAAAAAAAAEc/kqlRJGSWySc/s320/P1000715.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cajamarca City is Gorgeous</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFBGA-v_z-I/AAAAAAAAAEU/hRoSBxf1KSA/s1600/P1000699.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFBGA-v_z-I/AAAAAAAAAEU/hRoSBxf1KSA/s320/P1000699.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awesome right?</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFBq34iggYI/AAAAAAAAAEk/Ed09aqEMAcA/s1600/P1000808.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFBq34iggYI/AAAAAAAAAEk/Ed09aqEMAcA/s320/P1000808.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who wouldn't want to live here?</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of our last activities while out in a small town called La Grama was a "mission impossible" where we had to run around the town and complete tasks for points. &nbsp;Whoever gained the most points won. &nbsp;The tasks were silly - like ride a donkey, wear a traditional outfit, or play soccer with kids - and led to one of the best days of my life. &nbsp;My buddy Curtis (in the photo below) and I teamed up with some local kids who quickly invested themselves in our cause and led us all around town knocking on doors, talking to people, and taking photos of us completing tasks. &nbsp;We ended up forgoing most of the other tasks to find a burro because Curtis wanted to ride one. &nbsp;We finally found one! We were even gifted three huge pieces of sugar cane by the guy who let us ride it. &nbsp;At the end of the day I really felt confident about going around and just meeting and talking with people - an invaluable skill for when I go to site.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFCYScF9sII/AAAAAAAAAE0/3vxPQ94dXF0/s1600/P1000870.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFCYScF9sII/AAAAAAAAAE0/3vxPQ94dXF0/s320/P1000870.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We shared some refreshing beverages with our guides!</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFCtZAu9JzI/AAAAAAAAAE8/UllcPsMofXo/s1600/P1000883.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TFCtZAu9JzI/AAAAAAAAAE8/UllcPsMofXo/s320/P1000883.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the culmination of our efforts...</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8894333329164342460.post-78079292555823364402010-07-04T17:27:00.000-07:002010-07-04T17:27:15.055-07:00A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a lotta laundrySorry for the long period of time in between posts. &nbsp;I have been focusing all of my attention on my Human Trafficking paper so I can finally go out with my training teammates, spend time with my family, learn spanish... basically, be a Peace Corps volunteer. &nbsp;As of tonight I have finally finished that paper! &nbsp;If anyone would like to read and edit it for me, I will be forever in your debt. &nbsp;I have one month to perfect it.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TDEigm9kCQI/AAAAAAAAADs/dXMTKCXQh24/s1600/P1000648.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TDEigm9kCQI/AAAAAAAAADs/dXMTKCXQh24/s320/P1000648.JPG" /></a></div>As for training, it has been dragging on a bit long. &nbsp;I hear everyone has the same complaint around this time. &nbsp;We sit through a lot of presentations, do a team building activity every 10 minutes, and find little time to ourselves. &nbsp;Most of the material is over theoretical methodology. &nbsp;For example, we did one of those long surveys to find out what kind of teaching style you prefer (what I deem as equivalent to astrology for the social sciences). &nbsp;Most of my frustration is just my wish to get to site as soon as possible and get started doing some work.<br /><br />Of course, it is not all frustrating. &nbsp;I have been working with a couple of other volunteers to do some youth activities with some young children here in my town of Chacrasana. &nbsp;Our first week we made bracelets with string and played some names games. &nbsp;Last week we taught the kids how to make sorbet using bags, ice, salt, and fruit juice. &nbsp;It didn't work as planned (too much juice and not enough ice) but we all had fun dancing to pop music while shaking the bags. &nbsp;This week we intend to do a movie night, hopefully with the movie Pay It Forward if I can find it in spanish, and then discuss it afterwards. &nbsp;The group practically doubled between week one and two so I hope, and expect, for more this week. &nbsp;It feel great working with them. &nbsp;Some of the children live in really sparse conditions in a makeshift town above Chacrasana - living in fiberboard housing without running water, electricity, or gas.<br /><br />Last weekend we had the opportunity to head to Lima and check out the sites and sounds... We had fun and the best part was watching a world cup game while we had some pizza. &nbsp;This weekend we visited a shelter close to Chosica and I had the opportunity to play soccer and tag with a bunch of kids. &nbsp;I was having so much fun I actually missed meeting up with my group for another presentation.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TDEkAY-mFBI/AAAAAAAAAD0/Js_cSykItRw/s1600/P1000659.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TDEkAY-mFBI/AAAAAAAAAD0/Js_cSykItRw/s320/P1000659.JPG" /></a></div><br />Besides training and small group excursions, I have been spending an unusual amount of time doing laundry. &nbsp;I think I will probably miss two things the most while here. 1) cold showers and 2) washers. &nbsp;It is a&nbsp;ridiculously complicated process to wash your clothing by hand. &nbsp;You have to make sure you don't wash socks in the same water as a towel (so you don't put your foor crud on your face) and you have to rinse everything twice, which involves draining and refilling the sink a million times. &nbsp;My hands were raw and hurt the whole next day but I have clean clothes... I can say this... I am now wearing my clothes a lot lot longer than before!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TDEmc9sPw_I/AAAAAAAAAD8/p6leYPpKi-E/s1600/P1000657.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YMhidwzw5YM/TDEmc9sPw_I/AAAAAAAAAD8/p6leYPpKi-E/s320/P1000657.JPG" /></a></div>&nbsp;Until next time! Nos Vemos!Christopher Hueyhttps://plus.google.com/110859677474739591734noreply@blogger.com0